A Rose Among Thorns
by J Val3ntine
Summary: Based on a mix between the movies and books, this is a romance tale applied to the books about a Fleur and Cedric and how they face the challenges that lie ahead of them in the triwizard tournament together. CedricXFleur pairings. Please read and rate!
1. Blonde Haired Beauty

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of these characters, they are all property of thebrilliant JK Rowling.

**Intro:** Hey! Welcome to my little area of and enjoy reading my newly written Fan fiction. I know this is a bit faulty and is a mix between movie and book but i've tried my best to center the fanfiction around Cedric&Fleur. I will be pairing them off in the end but I cannot disknowledge the fact that Cedric still liked cho so you'll have to deal with my soap opera like writing .

All right, sit back and pull up a chair as the dinning room proudly presents...

**.:Chapter one:.**

_"I'll be waiting for you... if you come here, you'll find me...I  
promise" -FF VIII_

Many of the students made noises of amazement as the horse-flown carriage passed them from their perches atop of the stone bridge. Embroidered with golden vines that led into sapphire roses, the carriage was one of the utmost beauties and, by far, more interesting than the dull everyday Hogwarts activity around them. Most peculiarly to anyone would be the means of how it traveled, off of the ground of course while drawn by six white Pegasus. The game keeper, a burly man by the name of Hagrid, was waving two fans as though he were a landing man for a plane, looking quite odd. Near by hitting Hagrid, the carriage descended with a loud whoosh as he jumped out of the way.

Cedric watched from his spot by Cho, his arm around her shoulders in a gesture that only a boyfriend would make. Deep brisk fall weather had enfolded upon them over the course of the schools beginning. Not many of the people were paying attention to them, or anything else aside from the massive vessel in which Hogwart's guests seemed to have arisen from.

"Amazing!" Cho breathed at the magnificent white glow that the horses seemed to emit. Cedric couldn't find words, his mind calculating on why these guests were coming. Had he missed something? Or was this just unexpected to the headmaster as it was to the awestruck students? Dumbledore had been reluctant to mention the arrival of guests, then again with Dumbledore everything was a mystery.

Another set of ahs and Ooos arose as a lofty sail poked out of the black surface of the lake just to the right of the carriage. Cedric's head turned with the rest of the crowd as an enormous brown ship arose out of the water, sending water flying up a little and bobbing as it appeared from underneath the surface to steady itself. The ship bore a red bannered flag with some logo that Cedric could not read, though he presumed it was that of another school. Squinting, he struggled to read the letters on the banner, giving up a little while after.

By now many of the students had crowded the landings and were waiting for something else to happen and, in a sense, it did. Professor Flitwick ushered the students to the great hall, waving his hands enthusiastically as he struggled to be seen above the crowd. The students seemed to be too enthused about all the happenings and didn't pay any attention to the small man. Realizing that this too was his duty, Cedric snapped out of the haze he had been.

"Come on everybody, to the great hall!" he spoke above the crowd, letting go of Cho to usher several third years who giggled girlishly at Cedric as he spoke. Cho laughed at his side, used to him getting attention from most of the ladies. It wasn't at all bugging Cho to know that someone else thought her boyfriend was attractive; "you lot, stop talking and start walking!" he spoke to the same spot of girls who had lingered to point at him and giggle. Cedric grinned at Cho. Being a prefect had its ups in the sense that you could get a better analysis of things before everyone else knew. Cedric was no gossip but still, it felt good to know that you were in control.

His eyes fell to the grounds were the horse-drawn carriage had landed. Several lighter haired students dressed in stunning pale blue robes had arisen out of the carriage, looking over Hogwarts with bright smiles. Cedric's heart jolted as his gaze landed on a rather attractive blonde standing next to what he presumed to be the headmistress. He could barely see her from here but from what he could make out, she looked to possess untold beauty. Cho's hand tugging on his arm called him back to his current situation.

"Er, Cedric? Everybody's gone inside; I think we can follow them now." Cedric grinned with an apology, his thoughts had slipped away from the future and to the girl that had walked so gracefully out of the carriage…who was she? Reluctantly, he followed Cho to the end of the bridge that led into the great hall. A feeling deep down in his gut told him that more than just one of Dumbledore's rambling speeches awaited them.

A soft breeze ushered into the hallways as they walked, Cedric was well aware of Cho's voice talking and making statements that he wasn't paying attention to. Feeling a little guilty, Cedric pushed away all other thoughts and paid better attention to the beautiful black haired girl that was his own.

"And I don't know if I can take another one of Snape's potion lessons," she had been saying, the Irish accent was more noticeable when Cho spoke her t's, which didn't seem to come out too often. The black robes that he wore kept out the chill breezes that were now sweeping in after them from the long hallway leading to the courtyard. Their footfalls echoed on the empty corridors as they followed the hallways to the great hall.

"Snape's potion lessons have never been pleasant, but I like to think that there are only two more years left of it until I'm free." Cedric grinned as Cho giggled at his remark as a girlfriend would. All thoughts of anything else had disappeared at this point; Cho's smiling face seemed to be the only thing on his mind now. A flash of red caught his eyes as a Gryffindor student walked by, none other than the famous Harry potter, a fourth year. Cedric and Harry had never really spoken much despite their status and how often they've run into each other. It was nothing personal but more like the very visible gap between the very un-famous Hufflepuff house and the well known Gryffindor house.

Cedric had just met Harry at the world cup when they had walked to the portkey, his father hadn't helped pleasant conversation along by boasting about his abilities the whole way there…he had been sorely soured by his father's attempts to make him better than Harry potter. For his father had frequently brought up the Quidditch match that Hufflepuff had won, Cedric being the seeker, and pointed out that Cedric could tell his kids he had beat Harry potter. It seemed that the fact that Harry had fallen off his broom meant nothing to the older man. It wasn't like they were competing for a medal; Cedric hadn't apologized for his father's actions due to the disruption by the death eaters since. A small jolt of guilt crawled in his gut.

"Well I suppose on the bright side, every other subject will look five times less horrible!" Cho laughed as she spoke. She too must've spotted Harry because she gave him a small hello as they passed. Flashing a quick wave at Harry, Cedric grabbed Cho's hand and they entered the great hall still laughing.

It didn't take them long to settle down, everybody was booming with curiosity over the newly arrived students and could barely wait for something to be said about them. Cedric had parted ways with Cho to go sit with his fellow Hufflepuff students, laughing and joking as he always did. He felt bad leaving Cho to sit at her own table but it wasn't like he, as a prefect, could sit with a different table. Besides he was sure that the event wouldn't last long and that he could go sit with her after Dumbledore had made his speech not too mention she was deep in giggling talk with her own friends now. From her spot a few tables away, Cho winked at him and Cedric grinned back. Dumbledore's majestic voice filled the halls and the students quieted immediately.

"This year Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event. The Tri-Wizard tournament," there was a bunch of excited mumbles and whispers from the students, though they were quieted once they saw that Dumbledore had stopped talking, "now for those of you who do not know, the tri-wizard tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school a single contestant is selected to compete," Cedric focused a glance at Cho who was looking at him with a smile of unwavering confidence.

"Now let me be clear, if chosen you stand alone. And trust me when I say these contests are not for the faint hearted, but more of that later. For now please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of magic and their headmistress Madam Maxime!" He spread his arms wide and the doors to the great hall slid open again, displaying the blue satin-robed Beauxbaton students. Most of them had their hair in beautiful curls, mostly blondes. Cedric could tell that the school was located in France; just the way they looked and dressed suggested a French heritage.

They walked like they were one, with strategic pride and paused a ways to stretch out their arms in a feminine like way, causing the men to gape at their beauty. Cedric could tell they were putting on a show, probably due to the fact of the rivalries between the two schools. He glanced at Cho with his eyebrow raised in what looked a mocked face of 'oh please' as the Beauxbaton students moved into another one of the arm gestures.

Unexpectedly they began a graceful run to the front of the great hall, parting this way and that so that they would face the school in a line. Blue butterflies fluttered from the group, leaving trails of blue sparkles in their wake. He estimated that there were about twenty Beauxbaton students and looked them over to see if he recognized any of them. The headmistress, taking up the rear, was bigger than any woman he had ever seen. She walked gracefully as her students and was dressed in a deep red dress that suggested a great sense of style. Many people were commenting to each other about the rather lofty woman but Cedric's gaze was back to the front.

A lone student twirled into her place at the center, landing in her set spot with an alluring smile as she bowed. Everyone was looking at her, their thoughts about the considerably tall woman gone as they beheld this new beauty. Cedric was enchanted. There was a pause as she smiled at her headmistress, still deep in bow, then her eyes, the most delicate liquid blue, turned to Cedric's, holding his gaze. Her platinum white hair was so fine that it could've been as soft as the silk of her dress; with skin like a porcelain doll she looked magnificent. A chill ran up his spine.

It was the blond haired girl from before.

**.:End:.**

How did you like it? Please read and rate with suggestions and constructive critism on how you liked it. Thank you for reading this through and check out the consession stand over to the right of the entrance points

Also, next chapter will be in Fleur's view point, still in third person but with a little gaze into the lovely Fleur's thoughts.

Knagii Usuki


	2. Flower of the court

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything of this ingenious harry potter world mumbles

**Intro:** For all of those who had posted a commnet, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm really glad that I have a few fans. I know the actual story line is moving a bit slower than I intended but I have to get through all the triwizard tournament introductions first and I thought it would be kind of odd if Cedric and Fleur just started to make out the second they meet. LOL. Okay I couldn't help that. Anyways, as i've promised this one is in Fleur's view and the next will be in Cedric's! I hope you enjoy this...

**Moonlight On The Water**

_Moonlight on the water,  
Like a pathway through the night,  
Take my hand and walk it with me,  
Tell me Everything's alright.  
Bring me through the night-time safely,  
Just by being by my side  
And I'll forget the long sad nights  
When I sat all alone and cried.  
Bring me back in time for daybreak,  
So we can watch it from the beach.  
As the moon hits the horizon,  
Slipping quietly out of reach._

Steve Flavin

Fleur felt the annoyance well up in her mind at the disheveled appearance of Hogwarts; this was nothing like Beauxbatons where things were so glamorous you couldn't speak if you looked at them. By the way the students reacted to them, she was sure they were easily dazzled. Quick to see that the Durmstrang students were being introduced, Fleur hastily sat down by a black haired ravenclaw boy near the warm heat of the fire.

"And now our friends from the north please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and the high master Igor Karkaroff!" A series of loud whacks ensued as the Durmstrang boys slapped staves against the floor, sparks flying on the end with a brilliant show of power. Fleur however was not amused. She sat at the table rather bored, eyes searching the great hall for the attractive blond she had found before. He sat at one of the tables in the middle, looking in her direction. Fleur noticed his gaze was focused on a resident of her table. Flickering to the left, his eyes fell on Fleur who gave him a warm smile.

Flames whirled around as one of the Durmstrang students blew fire in the form of a dragon. Then, walking straight next to whom she presumed to be Igor Karkaroff was none other than Viktor Krum. The ravenclaw beside her took his chance to speak.

"Is that Viktor Krum?" he asked as though transfixed, probably a huge fan…Fleur turned in his direction to speak with him.

"Of courszee it iz Krum! Didn't Dumbleedore tell you zat 'e iz coming?" she asked him, risking a glance at the attractive blond again. Her friend seemed transfixed on her eyes for a moment and then stumbled out some words as though he had just discovered a girl was talking to him. Fleur was used to it by now; see valued those that couldn't fall to her charm.

"I didn't know he was from Durmstrang," he finished, staring at Fleur as opposed to Krum. Somehow Fleur didn't think he was that interested in Krum anymore.

"Well 'e does like to keep zings like zat a secret ou else 'alf ze world would be attending Durmstrang!" she spoke softly as Dumbledore told them to began their feast. He seemed to be quiet for a short time as Fleur picked over the food that had appeared in front of her, picking only light foods like salad, "ou iz zat sitting at ze table over zair?" she asked him, pointing to Cedric.

"I'm Roger Davies," he began in a show that he wasn't paying attention. Fleur responded annoyed.

"Fleur Delacour, now ou iz zat blond sitting in ze middle zair?" she gestured to Cedric again, this time Roger seemed to get the clue.

"Oh, that's Cedric. Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff seeker!" he finished, the food on his plate untouched. Fleur nodded, standing up. Roger was about to ask her where she was going but Fleur was already out of earshot. Standing right behind Cedric, she asked.

"Excuze moi, do you 'ave any salad I can 'ave?" she asked, hoping that the blond called Cedric could provide for some interesting conversation. His friends had stopped talking, all staring at Fleur. Cedric looked at her with a bright smile.

"Yea," he slid the salad plate over the table and handed it to her. His friends had gone back to talking.

"Merci," Fleur replied, grabbing the salad gently with her delicate hands. For a second she thought that was it that all that was left was to go back to Davies and talk about Quidditch and Krum but his voice stopped her as she moved to put a step ahead of her towards her table.

"Would you like to sit down? I mean Davies isn't exactly good company, no offense to him or anything but he seemed more mesmerized than attentive." Fleur smiled.

"Zank you, I zhought zat I would be stuck with 'im all night!" she laughed gently, about to take the seat by Cedric but another interruption stopped her cold, the salad dish seemed heavier than before. A black haired girl had come over from the same table she was at, a smile on her face and a dish in her hands.

"Hey Cedric, mind if I sit here?" she asked, unaware that she had just interrupted Fleur in mid sentence. Cedric glanced worriedly to Fleur and then looked at his friend. The girl, who seemed finally aware that the two had been talking, humbly apologized, "sorry, I didn't see you there." There was an awkward silence and then Fleur spoke.

"Non, it iz fine I shall sit back with Roger." She gestured to the table but Cedric's voice stopped her.

"Why don't I go sit with you guys there? That way we can all fit me, you, and Cho." It seemed the best solution. The girl looked a bit distraught as to what had been going on before she came. Her suspicions were dulled as Fleur sat back next to Roger, facing Cedric and his friend. As soon as they had sat down, she introduced herself.

"I am Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons of course" Fleur inclined her head a bit in a elegant bow, silvery blond hair tumbling around her shoulder from the pony tail it had been tied into. She hadn't had time to anything fancy with it before the introduction.

"I'm Cedric Diggory the Hufflepuff Seeker," he grinned, shaking her hand in a friendly manor. Fleur turned to the beautiful black haired girl that was obviously more than a friend to Cedric. Hoping she was wrong, Fleur waited.

"Cho," she replied in a friendly tone, "I'm Cedric's girlfriend." Apparently this seemed as much a blow to Cedric as it did Fleur as he was quick to change the subject. Maybe she was just imagining things…

"You're from Beauxbatons?" he asked briskly. Fleur nodded with a long spread smile towards him.

"Oui." Cho smiled at her, though Fleur wasn't sure if it was a smile of friendliness or one of suspicion. She would not go for another girl's boyfriend, her pride would not allow it. But still, it seemed that he was inviting her…like he had been calling her. The concept made Fleur dizzy with confusion. One of her friends summoned her over and, with a quick glance at Fleur; she apologized and headed back to address her friend.

"That must be a lovely school! It seems its residents are all beautiful…" Davies said from her right. She had almost forgotten he was here. All she needed was a little distraction to get him away…Fleur feared she would go mad if he threw her another annoyance.

"Ah, Roger, could you find some salad drezzing? I seem to 'ave run out." She asked in her sweetest tone. Roger, who was eager to obey, was up and approaching another table in an instant, Fleur found herself looking deeply into Cedric's eyes. Cedric had one of his hardy grins on his face.

"He's sure eager to please you Fleur." Fleur laughed.

"I am used to it," She smiled, "a bit annoying really, I 'ave yet to find zee boy ou 'asn't done so."

"I'll keep that in mind." Cedric asked, pretending to be interested in the chicken on his plate.

"Ah, Merci, it iz 'ard to find someone ou can resist my veela 'eritage." Her eyes flickered to Cho who was on her way back.

"Veela? That would explain why ever decent guy is pinning over you, I mean just look at Davies," he laughed as Davies had gone to another table carrying three salad dressings in his hands and going for the fourth. Fleur couldn't help but laugh.

" 'orwarts is 'uge. I almost got lost coming 'ere." She looked down at her salad, no longer hungry.

"I should give you a tour around sometime, maybe tomorrow." He finished, still looking at Fleur in a friendly way. Fleur liked Cedric, he wasn't lulled by her looks like most people. With a sad thought she knew that he would not be swayed from his current girlfriend. Once again pride had taken away her will to love him.

"Zat would be-" Cho flopped down besides Cedric, leaning against his shoulder and closing her eyes in a gesture of tiredness. Once again Fleur was cut off by the beautiful girl's words.

"It's been such a long day Cedric, I'm going directly to bed after this feast is over..." with amazing speed, Davies placed the dressings in front of her, all four of them. Fleur was very tired from the long travel that she could barely stifle a yawn at Cho's mention of tiredness. Cedric looked apologetically at her again. She shook her head; it was no use going for someone with a girlfriend.

"Too long…" Fleur sighed, standing up, "Au revoir Cedric, Cho, Roger, I am going back to zee carriage to sleep." Without another word, and a small look of disappointment, she had already approached madam Maxime at the teacher's table and whispered into her ear. The burly woman nodded and within an instant Fleur had trodden down the great hall isle and was making her way back.

**End:**

This was acutally an easier chapter. Thepoem took longer to find than it took me to write the whole chapter.I think i'm putting the next one still in the great hall and after Dumbledore mentions the tournament after the feast, don't worry, Cedric will find Fleur .6 Thanks for reading this! points to consession stand we've got a bigger funding so i've managed to add a cheese tray 6.


	3. Beauty of the Night

**Disclaimer:** me, the rather skinny impulsive dirty blond, does not own anything sniffle

**Intro: **I got the harry potter soundtrack and it rocks . but enough about me, let's talk more about the story line and how somebody ate all of the cookies in my last snack bar...(_mumbles_) haha. Alright. I highly apriciate all comments and I now know that Cedric is a brunette (_winces at mistake_) well he did look blond in, er, uh, hey look, what's that! Lol. This is the last one to take place in the great hall thank goodness and I am working on adapting Fleur's school scedule as we speak, well not right at this moment but at least by the time you read this. Enjoy .6

A Dream Worth Dreaming

_In the shadows of my dreams I taste your lips  
So soft against mine like a warm rain  
At the edge of the mountain my heart slows  
Sharing our every breath...two hearts don't refrain  
On the edge of my dreams is where I want to stay  
It's there...I'm forever in your arms...safe...sound  
At the edge of the mountain I'll remain breathless  
For me...no greater love will ever be found  
I will wait for you...be there for you...always._

R. Kent

"Your attention please!" Dumbledore majestically swept his hands up in a gesture for silence, "I would like to say a few words. Eternal glory that is what awaits the student who wins the tri-wizard tournament. But to do this that student must survive three tasks. Three extremely dangerous tasks." Cedric shifted in his seat, a bit uncomfortable not sitting with his friends at the Hufflepuff table. To his left Cho was watching intently as Dumbledore spoke, leaning on his every word. Even Roger Davies was watching the headmaster closely; he hadn't managed to keep his mouth shut about Fleur even for a fleeting moment after she had left. Cedric had responded to his last sentence with a sarcastic 'if you love her so much than why don't you marry her'. Davies had taken this the completely wrong way and gone on about weddings and Fleur's beauty until even Cho was annoyed.

"For this reason the ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. To explain all this we have the head of the department of international magic cooperation Mister Bartimus Crouch." He continued and an older man of no particular interest was making his way up to the podium. Cedric leaned over to Cho and whispered.

"It could be worse, it could be Davies spouting on about Fleur," Cho giggled and Cedric leaned back with one of his award winning grins. His mind was still stuck on Fleur and her abrupt exit. Shaking his head as though trying to brush off the notion to all but leave Cho to go find her now, he concentrated his thoughts on Crouch's speech.

A loud crack of thunder caused him to jump, Cho's hand gripped his arm in a death grip as a scruffy wizard with blonde hair and what looked to be a glass eye yelled a simple incantation shooting a red spark up towards the great hall's ceiling by means of his wand. Everyone was as quiet as though Snape had yelled at them. All eyes on the strange man, they watched as he approached Dumbledore with a murmur and gave him a clap on the back, taking the empty Defense against the Dark arts chair only after downing a swig from his hip flask.

"Is that Alastor moody?" Davies whispered intelligently across the table to them. Cedric would've congratulated him on the fact that he hadn't spoken of Fleur, if he hadn't been so deep in thought himself. He couldn't get rid of Cho, she was too near to him…but still something about Fleur seemed to draw him in.

"She's part veela…that's why…" he mumbled under his breath, making an excuse as he spoke out loud unintentionally. Cho, who had finally released her death grip on his arm, gave him an uncomprehending look.

"Sorry? I didn't catch that." Cedric shook his head as Cho was waiting for him elaborate on what he had mumbled. Cedric was glad she hadn't heard him.

"Nothing." He finished, Roger seemed be too lost in day dreams to care that nobody had answered his question. Fleur didn't like him…she was probably just up for dazzling anybody with her veela charms. His heart sank at the thought. There was no room for any more conversation because Crouch was already speaking.

"After much deliberation the ministry has concluded that for their own safety no student under the age of seventeen shall be allowed to put forth their name for the tri-wizard tournament. This decision is final." Several of the fourth and third years booed in protest, yelling angrily at Crouch. They wouldn't be able to compete in the tournament…

"I'm going to put my name in, maybe I can win..." Davies daydreamed. Cedric grinned. That was it. The tournament, it was a perfect way to win Fleur's affections, or at least get his mind off of her...

Cedric was lost in his thoughts as Dumbledore placed his wand against the tall box at the center of the room, folding the box down as he motioned downwards to reveal a towering stone goblet with a blazing blue flame at the very top. This had quieted the outbreak of student's complaints about the age limit. It didn't matter to Cedric; he was old enough to compete.

"The goblet of fire. Anyone wishing to submit themselves for the tournament merely write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night. Do not do so lightly, if chosen there's no turning back. As from this moment the tri-wizard tournament has begun."

With a wave of his hands, Dumbledore motioned that the students could leave if they wished to. Stealing one last glance at the goblet, Cedric stood up and turned on heal, Cho following on his right. They were silent as they walked down the stone hallways. Cho finally spoke up, breaking their unusual silence.

"She's real pretty isn't she Cedric?" Cedric frowned at Cho, pausing from their walk. Cho's hand wrapped around his own in a girlfriend's gesture, "its okay Cedric, she said she was part veela, it's not your fault she's dazzled you a bit." Cho said understandingly. Cedric felt guilty. Leaning closer to him, Cho planted a light kiss on his lips with a playful smile, "see you tomorrow Cedric!" she smiled and ascended the stairs leading up to the Ravenclaw common room, giggling about something with her friends.

"See yah." Cedric waved, a bit taken back by her kiss. Brooding over his feelings, he turned right out onto the bridge. It was dark now and curfew would be soon but Cedric could spare a few moments, being a prefect and all. As opposed to heading up the stairs, he took a quick right. The quiet of the night was inviting as he gazed out to the stars above, leaning on the cold stone railings of the covered bridge.

Cho's words were still ringing in his mind, making him all the more guilty…just a veela…but still…Cedric looked sullen at the thought that Fleur had just been using her veela charm to get to him just so she could flaunt in front of Cho. But somehow Cedric didn't think that this was it. He turned to go but stopped, catching a glimpse of a figure he recognized. It was Fleur, standing a little ways down the covered bridge. Cedric wasn't sure whether to approach her or what. Without another thought he had already begun to walk over to her.

"Couldn't sleep?" he called to her, making his way over. She looked surprised he was there, gathering up her wits quickly. The formal blue silken dress she had once worn had been disregarded for a blue skirt of the same material that went down to her knees and a long sleeve light blue hoodie. Finding her words finally, Fleur spoke.

"Oui," she said simply as though something had her beat. Cedric fumbled with the words in his mind as they stood there in silence. Nothing came until she spoke again, "ze stars! Comment magnifique…" she murmured softly.

"Comment, uh, what?" Cedric asked in a display of complete misunderstanding. Fleur laughed softly, giving him an accepting look.

"How magnificent. I 'ave a 'abit of speaking French accidentally," she smiled, " 'ow iz my English?" she asked simply.

"Great. You haven't mixed up anything, yet." He grinned, flashing a glance at Fleur and than back at the grounds bellow them. Madam Maxime and the rest of the Beauxbaton students were approaching the carriage. Fleur sighed.

"I 'ave to go now. Madam Maxime 'oud zhink I 'ave been kidnapped if I am no zair." Cedric laughed, turning to face Fleur. She held his eyes for a moment and then reached up to give a French goodbye with two kisses on each his face. Without another word, she left as Cho had, descending the steps to the bridge that led to the grounds. Cedric stood their while, watching her approach the headmistress. After a small amount of talking, Madam Maxime walked into the carriage. Fleur paused, looking up towards Cedric. With a slight wave she was gone into the enormous carriage, the door shutting lightly behind her.

**End: **Well, I admit I couldn't just leave my readers hanging with Cedric walking out of the great hall without another apearance of the lovely Fleur. My report has sucked most of the ability to write out of my brain but i'm still pulling for another chapter. Due to a band concert on sunday and monday, the odds are i'll be ending up posting it on Tuesday sighs then again I have always been known to defy the odds...ah well please leave a comment and any suggestions!

Knagi

Ps. Anyone interested in playing Cedric or viktor krum on my rpg board please send me an Email there should be an adress located on my main page (the fanfiction thingie won't let me type in the adress (_sigh)_

I am desperatly seeking one as our old one seems to have up and left poor Fleur all alone (_sniffle_) Thanks


	4. Two hearts, one love

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing, nadda! Zip. Zilch. Zero.

**Intro:** I can't wait for christmas! I just realized it's sunday O.O Alright on with the storiness...my editor is back up and running and I have been typing this little fanfiction while I SHOULD be typing my 6 page report...however, that's what the day before it's due is for, right? Ahem...anyways my RPG board is in desperate need of memebers from Durmstrang anda Cedric Diggory. I'll chop off my right arm to get a Cedric diggory at this point...lol...on to the fanfiction...

Two Hearts, One love

_IfI were the rain,  
That binds together the earth and the sky,  
Who in all eternity will never mingle,  
WouldI be able to bind the hearts of the people together?_

_Bleach_

The next three days passed Fleur by in a haze. She had been too caught up to notice anything other than her school work. It was hard adapting to this Hogwart's life and the new teachers. Some, like professor Binns just seemed to drone on as though their life had no meaning to it what so ever. The potion's master, Snape, seemed to be continually sour to Fleur and the rest of the Beauxbaton students, almost to the point of driving one of her friends to tears. Her mind was still stuck on the handsome brunette, Cedric. Many times she had seen him pass by in the hallways hand in hand with Cho. Fleur constantly told herself it was best for both of them; it could only end in separation when they left at the end of the year.

"Fleur!" Roger called from a ways behind her. Fleur twirled on her heel in the hallway she had been walking in, a smile bustling on her face.

"Bonjour Roger!" she smiled. Despite his appearance back when she had first met him that Sunday, Fleur had grown rather attached to the ravenclaw Quidditch captain. He helped her out a lot and provided good company, if you could get passed the mound of complements he threw her each day.

"I've just put my name in the goblet!" he said proudly, beaming. Fleur's mind comprehended the words slowly. The tournament! How could she have forgotten? _I am thinking too much about him…_Fleur thought sullenly.

"Oh! I 'ave to put my name in today, it iz Wednesday, correct?" Roger frowned at her, as though the thought of possibly facing Fleur in the tournament didn't go down too well with him. His frown quickly turned into a wide spread smile.

"Yea, come on, the goblet's this way!" he said enthusiastically, heading off into the direction of the room. Fleur placed her books down on the ledge of the first floor's courtyard, hoping to get them later. With quick graceful steps, she was off and following Davies into a smaller room. The goblet stood there, a line of foggy white around it. Fleur suspected it was an age line. There was a bit of clapping as one of the Durmstrang students placed their name hastily in the cup.

Pulling out an elegant piece of parchment, more shaped like a decoration than a piece of paper, Fleur wrote her name on the parchment piece. Seeing that nobody else was approaching the goblet, though most were watching it, Fleur strode up to the towering figure and reached up to place her name in the goblet. The age line wavered a bit as she crossed it. There was an instant as the goblet snatched up her name and then a whole lot of cheering. Fleur smiled vibrantly, leaving the circle to go back to Davies. Voices interrupted her thoughts.

"Come on Cedric!" three of Cedric's friends pushed him across the outline; his beautiful brown hair was soaked from what she presumed to be rain. Everyone in the room was quiet, watching him. As quick as Fleur had, he placed the script of paper into the flaming goblet, eyes fastened on Fleur as he did so. She smiled, her eyes fleeting to the clock for only a moment.

"I 'ave to go back to ze carriage soon, Madam Maxime wants us to rest up for ze drawings tomorrow. She 'as given us ze rest of ze day off from schoolwork. I am glad zat I will be missing Potions and, ah, what does zis say?" she pointed to the small lettering on the piece of parchment she had unfolded from the inside of her robes. Roger read over the words.

"Transfiguration…no wait it looks more like…" a voice from behind her stopped her ears from listening to the babblings of Roger. Cedric was walking over to her, his friends standing by the door watching the two with smirks on their faces.

"Fleur!" Cedric said enthusiastically, his backpack had been swung over his shoulder in a casual motion. In his hand he held several of her books and the parchment pieces she had placed on top. For a moment she just stared at him but then her eyes recognized the fact that she had left her books on that very ledge...

"Ah! Are zose my bookz?" Fleur asked simply, elegance laced into each one of her words. Cedric smiled at her.

"Yea, it started to rain outside, you had left them on the ledge and I knew you didn't want them to get wet so I figured I'd bring them to you because I was heading up this way anyways," Fleur's smiled grew brighter. Maybe he did care…

"Merci Cedric! I am glad zat you zought of bringing zem up! I 'ave many important zings in zair!" she looked happy, and reached out for her books. Cedric glanced at his friends who were beckoning for his return and then quickly back to Fleur. Roger was now too busy staring at Fleur again to know what was really going on.

"Want to go for a walk?" Fleur smiled graciously and glanced at Cedric's friends who had given up on him and were walking out now. Cedric still had her books in his hands; Fleur was awaiting his return of them to her.

"I would love ze company!" Fleur replied enthusiastically. It would be nice to have different company than that of her Beauxbaton's friends or Davies, not that there was anything wrong with him. Roger seemed to find words to speak, under the very realization that Cedric might possibly be competition for Fleur.

"Er, Fleur, aren't you going to eat dinner now?" he asked, her mind fiddled with the prospect of dinner so early, not liking it at all. Fleur shook her head; the silvery strands of hair that had been tied so neatly into a pony tail were now resting on her shoulders.

"Non, it iz too early!" she said, Cedric waved to his last faithful friend who had been waiting in the doorway. The blond haired companion then waved back to him and was out the door, tearing his eyes from Fleur. Roger must've caught a glimpse of the clock because his eyes widened and he picked up his books off of the floor, glancing apologetically at her.

"I've got to go to potions," he handed the schedule back at her and for an instant gave Cedric a look that Fleur could barely see, though she was sure it wasn't a friendly one. It was one thing that they were both seekers…but Quidditch captains just threw his competition for her into a whole different level of competitiveness. Fleur waved to Roger as he left, turning back to Cedric the second he had left her sights.

"Do you still want that tour of Hogwarts?" he asked with a grin. Fleur had her eyes on her books, watching as to wait for him to give them back. It was mostly a guise for her looking at him.

"Don't you 'ave classe as well Cedric?" she asked him, a bit surprised. Fleur was sure if he had said yes she would've gone back to the Beauxbaton's carriage and sulked. She stood there waiting his answer, all while hoping she didn't sound like she was trying to get rid of him…

"Nope. Sorry but you're stuck with me now," Cedric joked and Fleur couldn't help but giggle a bit, "I won't be that easily gotten rid of…" he teased and she could only raise her eyebrow at him in mock suggestion. Cedric was giving her the same cunning grin he normally gave her.

"What makes you zink I want tu get rid of you?" she teased back. He only grinned wider at her. They were quiet as a Durmstrang student with short black hair and rippling muscles placed his name in the goblet. Everyone clapped loudly and Fleur felt Cedric lean closer to her as he spoke. It would be wrong to say she didn't enjoy his company.

"Is that Viktor Krum?" he asked her, Fleur had been too busy staring at Cedric to notice. She gasped, suddenly noticing herself whom that was.

"Oui! It iz 'im!" she said, a bit excited. She was never one for Quidditch, had been really bad at it in fact, but Fleur had watched the world cup from the stands (her mother had gotten them tickets) and she did admire his courage. If he happened to get in he would be a fierce competition… They clapped politely with the rest of the students. As soon as the noise had died down, Fleur turned to Cedric.

"Ah, could I 'ave my bookz back?" she asked. Cedric, who had forgotten he was holding them turned a bit red and handed them back to her with an apology. They began to walk out of the room as they spoke the next few bits, "do you zink zat you will get in?" she asked him, they began a slow walk towards the right end of the castle. Cedric pondered on this for a few minutes.

"Actually…I'm not sure, I've never really thought about it until you just asked me!" he confessed, one hand on the strap of his back pack while they walked and the other one tucked in the pocket of his jacket.

"I zink zat you would make a perfect champion!" Fleur said enthusiastically, her eyes locked onto Cedric as they walked. Cedric seemed to be shocked by what she had said, as though he had never really pictured himself a champion.

"You really think so? Or are you saying that to keep me quiet? If you are…it's working…" the two of them laughed, feeling much like they had shared a level of mental connection. Cedric had stopped her at the bottom of the stairs, facing the courtyard. The rain was pouring down in heavy drafts and Fleur sighed. She would have to walk through that… Fleur walked over to the ledge facing the outside courtyard, rain touching the edges of her finger tips as she reached with her right hand, left hand still holding the books.

"You know, when I first came to zis school, I zought zat I would hate it…but I zink I've changed my mind," she said quietly, Fleur noticed that Cedric had stopped walking and was standing very close to her on the right. Turning around, she faced him, her eyes delving deep into his own. For a moment he said nothing, just stared with a handsome expression at her.

"Yea…it's not such a bad place…" He said, staring into her sparkling blue eyes. Fleur gripped her books a little tighter. The courtyard side seemed to be very empty now; nobody wanted to watch the rain.

"Not only ze place Cedric…ze people as well…"she said softly. He leaned a little closer to her. Fleur held her breath, they were so close…For a second there she was sure he was going to kiss her and then a voice interrupted them. It was Cho's voice. Very well aware of how suddenly close they were, the two moved a ways away from each other as Cho rounded the corner.

"Cedric! I had wondered were you got off to!" she said, smiling as she approached Cedric, who made it look as though he had been leaning against the wall. Fleur was hiding her soft pink blush. Did he care for her like she did for him? Or was it her veela charm pulling strings and making trouble for her? Cho hadn't seemed to notice that Fleur was there, or what would have ensued had she not interrupted them.

"Just showing Fleur around," Fleur faked a smile at Cho, sending a nervous glance to Cedric and then back to Cho.

"Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt your tour!" she said apologetically at the silver-haired beauty. Fleur, however, knew just how close she had cut it to getting Cedric to cheat on Cho. With a strong feeling of guilt, she glanced once more at Cedric and then managed another fake smile.

"Non, it iz no problem…I was juzt leeving now…" she said, already standing on the ledge that led out to the pathway leading to the Beauxbaton's carriage, "Au revoir!" she said hurriedly, not wanting to cause more of a problem than she might have already.

Without another word she was out in the pouring rain, clothes soaking instantly as she ran across the grass. If Cedric had protested her leave, Fleur had paid no attention to it. This was going too far, he loved Cho, not her. The sad realization that looks may be the only thing fueling his feelings for her dawned on Fleur, her rain soaked clothes stuck to her, causing a shiver against the cold air. Ink had run over the parchment in her hands, dripping to the ground. Fleur brushed away the stream of tears that had run across her cheeks…

**End: **it actually took me three tries to get this right. At first I thought I was going to glimpse into moody's class and scare fleur with a lesson chuck full of curses but then I did some research and moody would normally teach 6th years about curses so i'm asuming that they've already had the illegal curse lesson...plus I didn't think fleur was as weak as to faulter in front of the curses...thing's are getting pretty hectic around here but I will still keep up the writing flow, though not so much as christmas aproaches. next chapter will be the champion sorting!

Thanks

My website:(just connect it, I can't seem to get the darn thing running...)

http/ triwizardtor. proboards77. com/index. cgi

my LJ username:WiccaRose (underscore inbetween the two words)


	5. Champion Selection

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing, le sigh

**Intro: **This chapter took more time than I thought any other chapter would take. I was fresh out of ideas and didn't want the two to be interupted by cho once again, for I realize that this might get a tad boring. However, the idea behind the constant cho interuptions is to point out that without Cho the two would've most certainly gotten together imediatly, that she is the very wedge that keeps them appart (sorry avid Cho fans, no cho bashing intended). Anywho, I hope this was quite what you were looking for and i'd love ideas about the next one!

_But to see her was to love her, Love but her, and love forever.  
- Robert Burns_

-Cedric-

Thursday came too fast for Cedric to even comprehend. Yesterday seemed to pass by in a haze, and he was in his right mind for once. The thing with Fleur felt as though it hadn't happened, and wasn't taken in the way he hadn't wanted it to be, if that made any sense. It was nothing, just a convenient stare of one friend sharing a moment of laughs with the other. It was the day, the day of waiting that every Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbaton students alike were both dreading and anxiously awaiting, or at least those who had submitted their names to the goblet of fire. Classes went by fast; most of the teachers had given up completely on teaching them altogether due to the lack of attention spans. Cedric remained as stoic as ever though everything inside him was hoping he would be chosen.

"Mr. Diggory!" professor Sprout had shouted across the greenhouse, Cedric snapped to attention. He had been in the process of watering a hydratic magnolia plant, a bad idea if you wanted to keep your limbs attached. Looking a bit embarrassed, he placed the water down on the table and filed the plant back on the shelf. His fellow Hufflepuff friend smirked at him as though to say 'thinking too much about Cho again?' Cedric only sighed as professor Sprout continued her work about the greenhouse. In advanced herbology one should really pay attention on penalty of loosing an important apendage.

The greenhouse's white painted wooden door swung open gently and in came none other than Fleur. Books in hand, she gazed around the greenhouse with what looked like a small bit of unease but then her smile was back and blazing. Cedric averted his eyes from her so that he could successfully pull off the magnolia's crystal flower and put it with the others he had been getting just over to his right.

"hello dear, can I help you?" professor sprout asked, obviously surprised to see anyone aside from the two Hufflepuffs, a slytherin, and one ravenclaw student that had signed up for advanced herbology. Fleur let off one of her confident smiles and Cedric winced as his finger picked over one of the sharp ice-like buds of the magnolia plant.

"Iz zis advanced 'erbology?" she asked and Cedric felt a chill of anxiety flow down his spine. Had she come to talk to him? Straight out of class! He was sure that this wouldn't look to good in front of all the other students…but still he hoped that he would get a chance to speak to her before they made their way down to the great hall.

"Of course! Diggory over there is our number one herbology student, if he's not a dead give away than I don't know what is!" From the corner of his eye Cedric thought he saw the ravenclaw student glare at him. Turning away quickly before her glare could have any real effect, Cedric continued to extract the flowers from the magnolia plant. The volume of Fleur and professor sprout's conversation was loud enough so that he didn't have to look up to listen.

"I 'ave decided to take zis as an elective," said Fleur remotely, as though detesting something about her other elective, "it iz much more beneficial zan anyzing zat Trelawney teaches…" she said with a bit of a cold tone. Professor Sprout seemed to be put off by her attitudes towards Trelawney, justified as they were.

"Well you're welcomed here among the greenhouses, miss, um; I didn't catch your name…" Sprout began and it was all Cedric could do to not say her name for his teacher. Another one of the plant's edges pricked his finger, drawing a small drop of blood. Cedric sighed; he had to stop being distracted…

"Fleur Delacour. Zank you, it iz much appreciated." Fleur said in a demonstration of her constant lack for words. Cedric wished that there was a clock in the greenhouse so that he could get a read for how much time until the banquet. Professor Sprout seemed to be enthused about having a new student, even if not from Hogwarts.

"Miss. Delacour, I take it you know about Hydratic magnolias?" She asked. Cedric was aware that Fleur did not say anything, very unlike her. Professor Sprout took that as a no and proceeded to give her orders, "you can work with Mr. Diggory over there, he knows what he's doing well enough to teach someone else as well" Sprout said and Cedric raised his vision away from the magnolia in disbelief. Was everything going to end up with him working with Fleur? How ironic…Fleur seemed to be in the same state as him, happy but a bit confused as to why they had ended up together yet again. Professor Sprout shot Cedric an approving look and then winked, turning away.

" 'ello Cedric." Fleur said, though she was a bit reserved, "iz zis ze magnolia?" she asked. Cedric realized that he was giving off that same goofy grin that he always did when she was around.

"Yea. Long time no see." He joked and Fleur smiled slightly. Cedric pointed to the plant, "Hydratic magnolia. Despite its name we never water them with just plain water. Something in the water makes the plant a bit, er, vicious. Professor Sprout wanted us to gather the plant's flowers for something…i'm not really sure what though. My guess is that she wants us to just get experience with the plant."

"So zen we are just getting zese bulbs?" she asked, her hand hovering over the sparkling flower hesitantly. Cedric nodded, demonstrating to her by plucking the flower off of its branch-like limb. Fleur's hand reached delicately around the rim of the flower, pressing a bit too hard. With a quick ouch she pulled her hand away. Cedric winced; he had forgotten to tell her the flowers were sharp like ice. Fleur stretched her hand out, a deep mark of red trailed down diagonally across her palm. It was much deeper than the cuts that Cedric had been getting, he mentally kicked himself.

"Come on, the sink's over here," he led her over, grabbing her hand gently and placing it under the warm water of the taps. Fleur looked sullen, as though she had just fallen from a great height.

"Oh…" she said a bit depressed as the red trail disappeared and reappeared with the flow of the water.

"I'm sorry; I should've told you that the flowers are sharp…" Cedric couldn't help but feel that the sentence was a bit…odd sounding. Fleur managed a defeated smile as Cedric addressed the mild gash.

"No eet iz my problem. I am no good at 'erbology…my worst subject…" she sighed. Cedric couldn't help but wonder why she had joined as he turned the water off and began dabbing at the blood that had dripped down her hand. Feeling a bit guilty he spoke.

"Not to worry, that's why you've taken it right? To get better…" he said, hoping to cheer her up a bit. Fleur's smile was back, as though she found the idea a bit funny.

"Oh no, sadly. It was zat Trelawney woman!" she said, only loud enough so that he could hear. The bleeding on her hand had stopped. Cedric reluctantly let go. It wasn't like a band aid was going to do any good, "she iz out of 'er mind!" Cedric could only agree. He had traded his last year of divination with herbology as well.

"Great minds think alike I guess." He grinned, watching her looking at the gash, now beginning the tedious process to healing. Cedric glanced at Sprout who had been watching the two. Finding herself caught in Cedric's gaze, she pretended as though she had been looking for a garden tool and walked by them, grabbing a small spade. The clock chimes from the school's clock echoed even through the greenhouse, signaling that is was time for the drawing.

"Alright, leave your areas as is, I'll have this cleaned up when I get back…wouldn't want everyone to be waiting for the herbology students…" the professor spoke happily. The students, not needing to be told twice, had already begun to exit the greenhouse. Cedric looked at Fleur.

"Come on." He said and the two took off for the great hall. The walk was one of an uncomfortable silence until Cedric spoke up.They were almost to the great hall by now but he figured any conversation was better than the uncomfortable silence that had enveloped them.

"Out of curiosity, just what did Trelawney say to you?" he asked, sure that if you had switched out of her class she must have said something insulting. Especially insulting to make Fleur, one of the top Beauxbaton students drop her class like a set of books that had been used for last year. Fleur looked taken aback, as though sure that he wouldn't have asked her that.

"Ah, it was somzing zat I prefer not to talk about," Fleur said in a sullen voice, as though the very mention of what Trelawney had said was in itself an insult. Cedric couldn't help but wonder if that was her only excuse. He played around with the thought of her coming in herbology just to talk to him, almost savoring it selflessly.

"That bad eh? She told one of the fourth years a couple of year's back that she had no talent and no love life, only her books. I think that she was the top in her class too, so it goes to show you that she's defiantly got something messed up with her. Fleur seemed to perk up a bit, recognizing that Cedric was attempting to take the time to cheer her up. As before the great hall came into their view and the two walked through the doors. Cedric felt much like he was escorting her, above the crowd's medium volume she spoke.

"Au revoir Cedric. I must go sit with my companions," she began, as though wanting to say something else but nothing came out and finally she bid him goodbye with a quick word, "Good luck." She smiled warmly at him not before going to sit at the table of blue clad girls. Her uniform caused her to blend in with the rest of the Beauxbaton girls and Cedric sighed. Not finding Cho anywhere around to give a friendly wave, Cedric followed the beckoning of his friends to the Hufflepuff table. Everyone hushed as Dumbledore spoke.

"Sit down please," another moment's pause as the last of talkative students quieted and sat down, "and now the moment you've all been waiting for, the champion's selection!" Cedric noticed that the age line was gone, and the lights in the room had dulled tremendously so that only the goblet's blue flames remained to light the room. Many of the students were now looking anxiously around, especially those who had put their names into the goblet.

Instantly the flames grew red, and like a volcano, spit out a small piece of mildly burnt parchment. By now all the students were hanging on the edge of their chairs to see who would be picked. He had never heard the great hall so quiet before. Dumbledore snatched the paper up as a chameleon would a fly, pressing it against his palm so he could read it.

"The Durmstrang Champion is…Viktor Krum!" the Durmstrang students all broke out in confident cheers from where they sat on the bench at the front. Many of them clapped Viktor on the back as he walked up to take the parchment from Dumbledore, then he proceeded to the next room. Cedric's anxiety matched that of his own fellows. Whomever would be a champion would have to compete against Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker at the youngest age of 17…there was no more time for thought because another name had spewed out of the red fires of the goblet, floating in a beautiful blue parchment ring that could only be from Beauxbatons.

"The champion from Beauxbatons…Fleur Delacour!" the Beauxbaton's students clapped sportingly, obviously everyone had been hoping for Fleur. Cedric however was totally beyond himself. When had Fleur put her name in? He hadn't even known that she had done so! Her smile was genuine as she walked up to Dumbledore and took the paper, shaking his hand with a noble nod. With a small glance at Cedric, she followed Krum out into the next room.

This was it; it was time for the Hogwarts champion. Cedric felt his stomach drop as the fire hurtled out another piece of parchment. Dumbledore snatched that upwards too, seeming to take longer than ever to read it. Cedric willed it to be his name, though odds are he wouldn't be chosen. What would he do if he wasn't accepted? What if Davies got accepted? Would she suddenly take to him better? Cedric felt sick thinking about it. Why did he care about what she thought? Cho was his girlfriend…

"The Hogwarts champion…Cedric Diggory!" A bit surprised, he ushered himself to his feet as the hufflepuffs clapped him on the back and sent cheers at him. He couldn't believe it. Of all the people…it had chosen him! A little bit disoriented, he managed to walk up to Dumbledore and take the paper. The handshake passed and before he knew it he was grinning like a fool and walking into the next room.

**End:** My oringal idea was to make a snippit from Moody's class teaching them the curses, but I thought that was too violent and the way I wrote it made Fleur seem very faint hearted. So I figured, why not let them share herbology? Cedric's head of house is Sprout so he'd naturally be good at Herbology and maybe Fleur could stay in the same class so they could talk? Next chapter will be on the weighing of the wands and how, from the movie, poor harry gets acosted and practically strangled by dumbledore over why or why not he had put his name! Suggestions wanted in the comment section!

Knagi


	6. Four Champions?

**Disclaimer:** The usual, I wish I owned something but I do indeed own none of this brilliant tale

**Intro: **Long time no write sigh this is just a filler chapter with not much action in it, nessisary for the plot line as I say. I hope you guys had a great vacation/holiday! HAPPY NEW YEAR! Haha. I just want to thank you guys so much for your comments and reviews, believe it or not it really is helping by feuling my cause for writing this story. Without you guys i'd be lost! Now on to the storyness...

Adieu  
_My love for you burns deep  
Inside me, so strong  
Embers of times we had  
And now here I stand lost in a memory  
I see your face and smile._  
**Yoko Kano**

-Fleur-

The clocks in the room were all ticking, making the silence of the Hogwart's champion choice all the more taxing. Fleur's eyes flickered to Viktor Krum who seemed just as lost as she, staring around the room and taking in its items. An uproar of cheers brought her attention back up to the entrance way. The Hogwarts champion had been announced. Her heart skipped a beat as Cedric walked in with a grin on his face. She would have to compete against him.

"Cedric?" she asked, as though in disbelief. Cedric approached her, still grinning. She was sure that his being chosen as a champion had come as much of a surprise as hers had.

"Who would've guessed?" he asked, his Hogwarts uniform contrasting with her Beauxbaton's one. Viktor Krum seemed to be watching them but Fleur took no notice. She had all of her attentions focused on Cedric. What were the odds that both of them had been chosen?

"Congratulations Cedric!" Fleur beamed, shaking his hand as she had Dumbledore's. Cedric looked taken aback but then returned her friendly shake and exchanged a few words with her as well.

"Congratulations on making it as well," he smiled, placing his hands back in the pockets of his robes. Fleur was suddenly aware that all the talking had stopped. Krum was close to them as well, obviously having noticed and trying to get a look through the door.

"Vat is going on?" he asked, Bulgarian accent as clear as Fleur's French one. Cedric's expression of happiness disappeared into a frown as he too struggled to get a look through the door from where they were standing. Footsteps sounded and a boy with messy black hair and green eyes walked in, holding something in his hands.

"Ah! Zey 'ave sent us someone to tell us what iz going on." Fleur said, jumping to conclusions. Cedric however was studying the boy with curiosity.

"Harry?" He asked, confused. Fleur wouldn't have guessed why if she had seen the piece of burnt parchment he carried in his hands and the lost expression on his face. Suddenly there was yelling in the distance and Dumbledore came through. Immediately he approached Harry with a face so fierce looking that Fleur struggled with an urge not to grip Cedric's arm in nervousness.

"Harry did you put your name in the goblet of fire!" he yelled, Fleur jumped a bit, eyes fixed on Harry. Harry Potter? Was he talking about the Harry Potter?

"No sir!" Harry insisted and Fleur suddenly realized what had happened. He had been called for the tournament!

"Did you ask one of the older students to do it for you?" Dumbledore pressed and Fleur was sure that he had indeed cheated but his reply sent her thoughts spiraling.

"No sir." Dumbledore seemed taxed by this, determined to figure out if Harry was lying.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes sir." Fleur was sure that she had an outraged look on her face but she kept quiet as Madam Maxime read her mind. There was a quick clunk as the tall woman swung at a lamp that would have hit her had she not hit it.

"Well of course 'e is lying!" She yelled angrily. Several of the Hogwarts staff walked through, all wearing grim expressions and followed by the Durmstrang headmaster. She stood by Fleur, separating her from Cedric as though he was part of this conspiracy. Fleur doubted that but did not say anything.

"The hell he is. The goblet of fire is an exceptionally powerful magical object, only an exceptionally powerful conjurer could have hoodwinked it. Magic way beyond the talents of a fourth year." Barked Moody from his spot, glaring at Igor Karkaroff. Fleur looked at Harry who seemed to be on the point of a heart attack. She highly doubted that he could put his name in, Moody was right.

"You seemed to have given this a fair bit of thought, Mad-Eye," Karkaroff growled, glowering at the Auror. Fleur wanted to shoot a worried glance at Cedric but Madam Maxime was blocking the way.

"It was once my job to think as dark wizards do Karkaroff, perhaps you remember?" Moody shot back and Fleur could feel the tinges of hatred rising off of them. Dumbledore looked annoyed. He gestured for Moody to be quiet.

"That doesn't help Alastor!" he waved his hand angrily, "I'll leave this to you Barty," he gestured towards the man who had been standing there wide eyed that Fleur knew as Bartimus Crouch. Everyone turned to him, the silence that had overcome them was one of absolute anxiety. The man approached the window, grabbing onto the frame as though the world were spinning. Fleur felt her stomach jolt with anticipation.

"The rules are absolute; the goblet of fire constitutes a binding magical contract. Mr. Potter has no choice; he is as of tonight... a tri-wizard champion."

Fleur didn't get a lot of sleep that night. Every time she closed her eyes the thought of who had put Harry's name in the goblet swirled around her head. There was something dark about this tournament and she was sure that it would not end up well. All she could think about was the impending arguments between the three headmasters. Selecting two champions for each school had been out of the question, the goblet would remain inactive until next year.

The next day brought thoughts and whispers among the Beauxbaton students, who ignored anyone associated with Harry in a snotty manor. They all congratulated Fleur with smiles. Even Madam Maxime's bad mood seemed to be overrun by the choice of her top student as a champion. Fleur had never been fussed over so much in her life, even by all the past attentions she had received from men. A sudden flash interrupted whatever day dreams she had been dreaming about.

"What a charismatic quartet. Hello!" A woman called from the tent as Fleur struggled to see after the flash of the camera. Fleur received a look that mirrored her own annoyance from Cedric who stood with his hand on her right shoulder. The woman, dressed in a bright shade of green with a purple bag and notebook in her hand approached them, shaking each of their hands.

"I'm Rita Skeeter, I write for the Daily Profit, but of course you know that don't you? It's you we want to know about, you're the juicy news," She said, the tip of her tongue touching the top of her lip as she spoke, "what quirks lurk beneath those rosy cheeks?" she asked, her hand on Fleur's cheek. Fleur smiled at the attention but then winced as she slapped her lightly. Fleur couldn't help but blink, the spot on her cheek tingling annoyingly as Rita walked over to Cedric, ruffling his hair, "what mysteries do those muscles mask?" she asked to Krum, her hand on the rippling muscles of his arm, "Does courage lurk beneath those curls?" She asked, attentions turning to Harry for a small amount of time. She placed her arms over Cedric's and Harry's shoulder.

"In short, what makes a champion tick," she said, squeezing Harry and Cedric closer to her to emphasize the word tick, "Me, myself and I want to know. Not to mention my rabid readers. So, who's feeling up to sharing?" there was silence, "Mmm? Shall we start with the youngest? Lovely," she said, pulling Harry towards the door of a broom closet. Fleur was glad that she hadn't decided to pick her first; she didn't like the woman's obnoxious attitude. As soon as the door was shut Fleur relaxed, standing up. Viktor and Cedric both looked a bit put off by the woman.

"She's mental…" Cedric finally said and both Fleur and Krum shook their heads in agreement. Fleur hadn't had much time to talk to Cedric after the argument last night mostly due to Madam Maxime's anger and insistence that she return back to the carriage. She was about to say something to him when the deep voice of Viktor Krum spoke.

"I haff heard of her." Viktor spoke, surprising both Fleur and Cedric. He hadn't said anything to either of them since he had asked them what was going on last night; in fact he hadn't even spoken to his head master through the whole incident. It had made Fleur think that he was not very versed in the English language.

"She's the Daily Profit reporter who writes those false articles…" Cedric finished, he obviously knew because he was a resident of England but Fleur had no idea who he was talking about. Fleur shifted uncomfortably, looking at Cedric.

"Do you zink zat she would write something about us?" She asked, moving a little closer to Cedric. The notion of someone spouting lies about her in such a rotten manor made her stomach do flips. Cedric shook his head.

"Not sure." The door swung open and Harry stalked out, looking a bit annoyed. He stood to the right of Fleur and Rita came out after him, the very same pen and notebook in hand.

"Miss. Delacour? Care to grace me with a few words?" she asked, raising her eyebrow, pen poised to write. It was all Fleur could do to follow her. Rita smiled impishly and walked through the door. Fleur shot a glance at Cedric before she followed the woman. Door shut behind Rita pulled out a quill, wetting the tip with her tongue and placing it on the edge of the paper.

"Don't mind if I use a quick quince quill do you dear?" She asked, but didn't wait for an answer because she had already spun the first question. Fleur was in the process of answering her first when Rita popped the second question.

"How do you feel about going up against the infamous Harry potter? Anxious? Worried? Possibly superior?" she asked, the quill seemed to be itching for her to say something and Fleur averted her eyes from it.

"I do not care ou my competition iz Ms. Skeeter, I simply want to do my best and gain a victory for Beauxbaton's." Rita seemed rather displeased about the remark but continued anyways.

"What are your thoughts on how Harry got selected as a Triwizard champion?" Rita asked with a hopeful expression, not giving Fleur any suggestions that might bring her to make up another guarded response.

"I zink zat 'owever Mr. Potter got into zis tournament doesn't matter, 'ee iz stuck in 'ere and dwelling over ze past will not do 'im, or moi, any good." Fleur said, her patience waning as Rita pressed for more questions about Harry. Rita seemed rather bored with this response and moved onto another as though time was running through her fingers. The quick quill was writing deviously along the paper and Fleur tried hard to keep her eyes from it.

"What about the other champions, Viktor and Caleb, how do you feel about them?" Rita asked in a monotone voice, eyes looking over her hideous red painted nails that looked more like claws than anything.

"Cedric." Fleur corrected. Rita seemed uninterested.

"Uhuh, Cedric. Right, how do you feel about them?" Rita's eyes flickered to the quick quill and she sighed as the quill poised for writing something.

"I 'ave not met Viktor but I know zat Cedric iz a nice person. 'E 'elps me with finding my way around ze castle, I am really glad zat 'e made it into ze tournament," Fleur gave Rita one of her award winning smiles, Rita seemed to be slightly interested now.

"Oh? Are you worried about going up against him? He is, after all, the first in his class," Rita said. Fleur shifted a bit uneasily and then found the answer.

"Non, 'Ouever iz ze best will win, I will do my best and 'Ee will do 'is best." She finished. Rita seemed satisfied, the book and quill scribbled one last thing and returned to her hands. Fleur was uneasy looking at the smirk that she had on her face.

"Thanks dear, care to send Caleb, I mean Cedric in?" Rita asked sweetly. Fleur wasn't sure what was with the sudden change of attitude but she didn't care. Nodding, she walked up the steps with a simple sigh. It was glad to be away from her. Viktor was sitting slouched in the chair while Cedric was leaning up against the right wall, arms crossed and a bored expression on his face. Harry had left to go back to his classes as she would do.

"Fleur!" he smiled and Fleur couldn't help but smile back. She stopped a little ways from the doorway.

"Eet iz your turn next Cedric." She gave him a sympathetic look and then reached out to pat him on the shoulder. Krum looked up at them, as though he didn't really comprehend but it was still something to do other than slouch on a chair and think of nothing in particular. Cedric nodded and started to descend the steps but paused on the first step. Rita looked impatiently from the bottom of the steps leading into the broom closet.

"Are you going to eat lunch in the great hall today Fleur?" he asked, her heart skipped a beat. She almost broke out in laughter at his question.

"Where else am I going to eat it Cedric?" she laughed, beaming. Cedric let out a laugh.

"You should sit with me and my Hufflepuff friends, I could enjoy the company." He said, and Fleur smiled. She had been eating with Davies every lunch, dinner, and breakfast, it wasn't exactly fun but she had always found her eyes straying to where Cedric had sat laughing with his friends.

"I would love to." She smiled wider and then he descended the steps. Fleur shot a happy look at Krum who smiled back as though he knew why that had made her so happy and she was gone outside the tent and heading to another History of Magic class with Roger.

**End: **I'm finding it a little harder to write in Fleur's point of view because I'm not sure i've pinned exactly what she would stay but i'm working on it here guys. Anywho this chapter was a bit dull I understand but the next chapter will make up for it I promise! Once again I can't thank you guys enough for all of your comments and such, I really do apreciate them. STILL haven't found a Cedric Diggory for my site -.- oh well, on to the snack bar, we've got these spiffy little cookies with chocolate centers!

Thanks!


	7. Real Emotion

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Intro: **Lots going on so don't expect another chapter soon. I had a dance, winter ball for ponaganset, you know the usual. Anyways the food got me sick . lol. I've got midterms until next friday so after next friday i've got a trip to Quebec. Back to the present. I wrote this chapter with a good intention to do some Cedric Fleur bonding. Tell me if you think it's going too fast. Oh andsorry about any errors i've made but this was typed fast and Ididn't get myusual editing done due to the rush and fact that everything has hitten me at once!

Thanks agian for your spiffy and encouraging comments!

Real Emotion

_Falling in the hazy borders of my heart  
I can see your face  
It's something like this  
Every now and then I don't know what to do  
Still I know that I  
Can never go back_

_And oh, I know, the world of real emotion  
Has surrounded me  
I won't give in to it  
Now, I know, that forward  
Is the only way my heart can go  
I hear your voice calling out to me  
'You'll never be alone.'_

_Real Emotion- Jade_

"Come on Cedric, put one on!" the brown haired boy sitting on the bench that Cedric had stood by pushed. The others fueled this claim but Cedric refused, shaking his hands at his friends.

"Seriously guys, he's a champion too," he resisted, looking at the rather unattractive badge that read potter stinks in big letters, flashing back to a screen where "Cedric rules" was then put in the center.

"Oh, don't look now but here he comes…" a tall blonde haired girl said with a rather disgusted tone to her voice. Sure enough Cedric saw the form of Harry walking down the hallway, having trouble with two Hufflepuff students at the entrance to the courtyard. He was sure that Harry was coming here to yell at him about the badges. Feeling guilty, Cedric stuffed his hands into his pockets as Harry came within speaking distance.

"Can I have a word?" Harry asked, almost urgently. Cedric's friends taunted him with insults but Cedric waved them off, not wanting to treat Harry with disrespect.

"Alright," he said, following Harry to a rather secluded hallway leading out to the covered bridge. They stopped and Cedric was well aware that the eyes of all of his friends were looking at them as they spoke.

"Dragons. That's the first task. They've got one for each of us." Harry said quickly and softly as though it was a secret that dare not be uttered. Cedric gawked, thinking that he had heard wrong.

"Are you serious?" he stumbled, "And Fleur and Krum…do they?" he asked, still finding it unbelievable that they had to face off against dragons. This tournament was no joke…

"Yes." Harry said. Fleur knew about it? Cedric's heart sank, how could she not tell him? Was she playing him like he thought? Had all they talked about been just a cheap attempt for the Beauxbaton's student to hoodwink him? Harry moved to leave but Cedric stopped him.

"Hey listen, about the badges. I've told them not to wear them." He said sullenly. Harry nodded, turning as he said:

"Don't worry about it." Striding off, Cedric watched him with a frown and moved back to his friends, stopping as he caught a flash of blue. Waving off his friends, he ran down the corridors towards the Beauxbaton's student.

"Fleur!" he called after her. She turned, blue eyes shinning slightly at the sunlight that caught them. Turning on her heel to face him, she greeted him with a smile.

"Bonjour Cedric!" Fleur smiled.

"Hey." Roger called from her right with a rather cold tone. Cedric mentally frowned. How could he have not seen Roger? Ever since the champion selection Roger had been extremely cold towards him. Ignoring Roger's less than friendly greeting, Cedric looked urgently at Fleur.

"Fleur? Can I have a word with you?" he asked to her. Fleur seemed to notice that this was important and shouldn't be spoken while Roger was around. Cedric was anxiously awaiting her answer, eyes pleading with her.

"Oh! it iz about ze," she fumbled for a word, "ze 'omework!" she exclaimed and Cedric stopped himself from saying what as he realized the cover up that she had made for him. He nodded nobly. Roger seemed to be lost, but Fleur wasn't about to explain it to him.

"Yea, but I left it in the Hufflepuff dormitory…" he elaborated. Fleur pretended to look sullen, acting talents scaring Cedric a bit.

"Well zen I will accompany you and zen meet Roger back at dinner," she finished astutely and now Roger seemed to get it. Cedric looked relieved, though the tensions and questions were still building up inside of him.

"I'll go with you guys too," Roger offered, not wanting to give Cedric a chance alone with Fleur. Cedric felt a bit disarrayed by that and was about to answer his question when Fleur spoke up.

"_Non_, I 'ave to get something at ze carriage so eet iz nothing…zank you for your concerns Roger," Fleur smiled and despite his defeat, Roger smiled back at Fleur looking rather pleased with her compliment. Cedric felt a tingle go up his spine and he realized that Fleur was using her veela charm to get Roger away…so then she hadn't been using this on him? Did that mean her feelings and what she had said was honestly true? Or was it a guise for a clean shot at winning in the tournament as he fearfully suspected…?

Roger waved goodbye to them, promising to meet up with Fleur in the great hall. Fleur waved goodbye and began walking in the opposite direction from the great hall. Cedric felt his heart jump. He couldn't say what he wanted to right in the manner he wanted to, it would feel to mean…but he had to know. As soon as Roger was out of earshot Fleur spoke.

"What did you want to say?" She asked eyes glancing over to him as they walked. Cedric took a deep breath.

"It's about the tournament…" he began and Fleur looked curiously at him.

"Ah." She finished, still looking a bit confused but Cedric wasn't paying attention, he was trying to find a way to phrase it that wouldn't sound so mean. Finally he just blurted out what had been on his mind.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What?" she asked confusedly. Cedric immediately felt worse that he had just said that. How could he have just blurted something like that out to her? Worse off, why was she pretending not to know?

"The dragons. Don't deny it, someone told me you knew," he began and she stared at him as though the words coming out of his mouth were in another language, "I mean I understand that the tournament is about winning and that you don't want to tell me, which is fine, but I wasn't to now how we're going to hold this I-"he said in his run on sentence of excuses and Fleur broke the chain.

"Dragons? We are fighting dragons?" she asked, her face a twisted expression of horror mixed with fear. Cedric knew at once that she didn't know otherwise she was a good actress and he highly doubted that she was so good as to make herself look like she'd just swallowed some poly juice potion.

"Yea, didn't Madame Maxime tell you about them?" Cedric asked, just as confused as Fleur looked, "er, she did tell you right?" he asked again and Fleur shook her head as though words couldn't come out of her mouth.

"I didn't 'ere anything about zis…" Fleur spoke, looking as sick as Cedric was sure he had when Harry told him, "zis iz a joke, right?" Fleur pleaded with him using her eyes. Cedric wished he could tell her yes at that moment but he couldn't lie to her. So then, Harry had been wrong about Fleur? What if he had been wrong about the dragons too? He wouldn't do such a thing, Cedric thought and shook his head.

"Nope. First task is fighting a dragon." He said apologetically, "I'm sorry about that Fleur; I thought that you knew…" Fleur looked a bit more grateful though Cedric could see the horror of fighting a dragon retreat deep into the back of her eyes.

"_Non_, it iz okay. If you didn't tell me zen ou would 'ave?" she tried to look on the brightside and Cedric couldn't help but perk up to his normal grin. He was glad that Fleur hadn't kept a secret from him, glad that he had helped her with the first task.

"Thanks Fleur. Uh, do you want to go to the great hall?" he asked, noticing that they had veered hugely off the course of their destination and were headed for the dungeons. Defiantly not a place that Cedric wanted to go.

"_Non_, I must go research dragons in ze library, I am so nervous zat I can't zink of anything zat I can do! Ze task iz tomorrow!" Fleur exclaimed, showing her fears to him. Cedric's heart sank; he had to research as well. How long a lead had Krum and Harry had on this?

"Mind if I join?" he grinned and Fleur smiled, surely glad to have the company.

"Zen we could research together?" she asked, and Cedric smiled wider.

"Yep. Though I'm sure that Karkaroff will pin this as a conspiracy…" Cedric trailed off and the two of them laughed at the idea. Fleur paused. turning to him, serious.

"Cedric, if I discover anything about ze tournament tasks, you will be ze first, and only, one I tell," she smiled and took his hand in hers to ensue that the promise was from her heart. Cedric gave her hands a gentle squeeze.

"Same here Fleur. I will tell you anything I know. I don't want to keep secrets from you, that's not what friends do." Cedric couldn't help but note how soft her skin was, like satin.

"Zank you Cedric, I zink zat I am getting too really like you." She smiled, reluctantly letting his hands go as they began their walk towards the library.

The walk down was one of piece and by the time that they had finished studying everything had gotten dark and the librarian had left them in the library for sleep, she trusted Cedric. More than five hours of sitting here, talking, and discussing what they could do had gone by and yet it only seemed like a few minutes. Cedric wondered if Harry had already thought up a sceeme…he hadn't seen the Gryffindor here either. Skimming the pages of the candle-lit books, Cedric let out a yawn. Fleur was almost asleep on his shoulder, eyes drooping in a un-fleur-like manner. Cedric liked hanging around Fleur; she always acted more human around him, it made her think that she really did like him in her heart.

Cedric pushed away thoughts about Cho. Things had been pretty slow with her lately, and he noticed she had been keen on giving Harry looks. Then again, every girl was so what made Cho immune to the promise of fame? Things between him and Cho had been like there was a big wall in between and he seemed to be spending less and less time around her… Cedric sighed, pulling a book off of the pile to his right.

A rather large book with black binding and a golden stamp of a dragon caught his eyes and Cedric flipped it open. Dust flew from the pages as he turned them and Cedric coughed lightly, swatting at the air to get the dust away. Fleur was sleeping against his right shoulder now.

"Hope I make a good pillow…" he said softly to himself, smiling slightly. He sighed; sure of what he was going to do tomorrow. Cedric slowly shut the book, eyes looking at the peacefully sleeping form of Fleur. He seriously wanted to stay here and listen to her soft breathing but they should get some sleep. Nudging her a bit, Fleur stirred. She looked up at him and realized that she had been leaning on his shoulder like Cho would've when she got tired around Cedric.

"Sorry Cedric. I am getting too tired." She tried to stifle a yawn behind her hand and failed. Standing up, she stretched, and picked up a small book that she had decided to check out before the librarian had left. Cedric grabbed his backpack and slung the book in it, a last minute hope, snapping it shut with a soft click. If he hurried he would make it back to the common room before after hours, not that it mattered because he was a prefect…

"I guess we should each get a good night sleep before the first task, eh?" he asked, facing her and yet not wanting to do as his words had suggested. Cedric was sure that if she had told him to stay and look up dragon information all night with her he would. Something about Fleur still entranced him. Soft moonlight poured onto her hair, almost the same light silver, making it look like her hair was glowing.

"_Oui_, I wish you luck Cedric." She said, smiling. Cedric could see traces of her need for sleep in her eyes. Sighing, he smiled back at her.

"You too Fleur. I'm going to stay and put these books back on the shelves." He gestured towards the mound of books that were still on the table. He didn't want to leave that to the poor librarian. Fleur looked disappointed that he wasn't going to walk with her but she nodded.

"_Au revoir_," she said happily, turning to the doorway. Cedric found that he couldn't take his eyes over as she walked, grace in each of her steps. She paused in the doorway, turning around, "please stay alive Cedric…" she said with a saddened smile. Cedric nodded, grinning.

"It's not me I'm worried about." He said, gesturing towards her. Cedric couldn't tell if she had blushed or the moonlight had hit her face funny but he was sure there was something.

"I will." She promised and was gone. Cedric could hear the soft clicks of her heels down the hallway. She cared about him, he was sure of it. Since he had first met her, it was the first time he fell asleep to thoughts of Fleur and her moonlit hair, the same words still ringing in his head.

_I will._

**End: **Odds are the only way you are going to know I have a new chapter is to put me on your alert list. I will try my best to get a chapter or two out before my going on the trip. Anywho. I really like the way that this chapter came out but I'm going to continue it with another Cedric narration because the layout for this chapter was actually so huge that it would be too long to post as one chapter! Anyways next one's going to be the dragons and the first task! Thanks for you commnents! Much obliged!


	8. Dragons

**Disclaimer: **Not my plot/characters/etc

**Intro: **Hey! tuning into another episode of Fleur Cedric fanfiction? Okay so I lied about this one being in Cedric's narration, I figured that I will just let things flow as they do. I hope that this chapter is up to snuff because it took me a long time (mostly due to the start of my Underworld site, beginning and end of the first task on my hogwarts site, and aquiring YIM so that I can blab to my friends non stop, Oh if you want to talk to me on YIM just send me a message at **fleurdlcur **I'm really happy to talk to people, unless swamped with midterms. I'm having serious debation issues about wether or not Cedric SHOULD indeed go with Fleur to the ball...I mean wouldn't that be romantic?

_Basking in the warmth of your smile  
And the music of your laugh  
I feel your tenderness  
And your oh so witty style_

Unknown author

Fleur didn't eat anything that morning. Couldn't eat anything, everyone was wishing her good luck but she felt that she would need more than luck to win this round. Survive it for that matter. Throughout the morning all the ways she could meet her death at the hands of a dragon seemed to have popped up in her mind even as she chewed the soggy toast, tasting more like dust than toast due to her matter of mind.

It came to her as no surprise when she was called down earlier to the setting of the first task. Madam Maxime smiled at her as they walked but Fleur could tell the older woman was worried for her, not just for Beauxbaton's win that might not be such a win.

She sat in the tent, awaiting the arrival of the two Hogwarts champions. Viktor Krum seemed to be in his own little world and madam Maxime gave Fleur a small smile as she went out to talk with the judges while they waited. She watched him sitting there, staring into space as though he had shrunken to a smaller depth of his mind were the prospect of fighting a dragon was nothing special.

The tent flap opened and both Cedric and Harry, who looked rather pale, came walking in with identical robes. Fleur noted that Cedric's played more on a golden yellow theme and Harry's a fiery red that represented Gryffindor. Cedric shot her a grin, approaching her. Fleur felt as though the toast she had feebly eaten was more like a toxic substance that was now affecting her whole personality, making her appear pale and frightened.

"Catch any sleep?" he asked, Fleur could tell that he was trying to be cheery but beneath his calm exterior he was scared, Cedric just had a better way of covering it than she did. The silver and blue wardrobe that she wore would've was perfect for fighting the dragon. Fleur's jacket tugged tightly to her, a zipper down blue hoodie that matched her silver shirt with the Beauxbaton's logo on it.

"Not a wink," she said truthfully, remembering the horrid process of her waking up several times to a nightmare in which she had been severely burned/mauled/you name it by a dragon. She was barely aware that a fellow Gryffindor student had just wrapped her arms around Harry in a big comforting hug. A bright flash caused Fleur to blink slightly.

"Young love! Ohh how... stirring. If everything goes unfortunately today you might make the front page." The wretched woman from before, Rita Skeeter said haughtily to both the girl and Harry who looked embarrassed at having been referred to that way. There was a movement as Viktor Krum stood up, anger on his face.

"You haff no business here. This tent is for champions, and friends." He gestured towards the bushy-haired girl. Rita looked as though she was brimming with cold schemes and she brushed the tip of her quill along Krum's chin.

"No matter, we've got what we wanted." She sneered and was gone out the end of the tent flap. Cedric was about to say something when Dumbledore and the administrators of the task came in through the adjacent flap.

"Good day champions. Gather round please. Now you've waited, you've wondered and at last the moment has arrived. The moment only four of you can fully appreciate-" his eyes were fixed on the girl that he had semi- consciously put his arm around. She looked slightly out of place, "What are you doing here Miss Granger?" he asked confusedly. She looked slightly red, and backed out with a quick word;

"Oh, um…sorry I'll just go." Dumbledore had already interrupted her odd exit by suggesting something to Mr. Crouch.

"Barty. The bag." Looking vaguely excited, Bartimus crouch pulled out a purple bag, full with something that Fleur was unsure of.

"Champions, in a circle around me. Miss Delacour over here, Mr. Krum, and Potter over here. Right. Miss Delacour, if you will..." he gestured after placing her to the left of Krum. Madam Maxime's hand on her shoulder seemed like a small comfort as he held the open bag to her. There was a small bit of smoldering as she reached in hesitantly. Her hand clasped around a small little creature and she yanked it out gingerly by its tail, placing it in her palm for Madam Maxime to see.

"The Welsh green…" Mr. Crouch hummed and Fleur stared in amazement at the grin creature with its beautiful wings and stunning figure. It truly looked a thing of elegance. Crouch turned to Krum who had pulled out a red dragon with horns that didn't look as friendly as Fleur's dragon.

"Chinese fireball…ooooo…" he commented which would've normally made Fleur smile but the devastation of facing a creature so fierce as a dragon was causing all feelings of happiness to be blocked. Cedric was reaching into the bag now, pulling out a bluish-grey dragon that looked slightly less vicious than Krum's fireball.

"The Swedish Short Snout. Which leaves…" he begun as he turned to Harry who had muttered something underneath his breath which sounded vaguely like 'the horntail, "what's that boy?" he asked. Harry shook his head.

"Nothing." Harry put his hand into the bag and pulled out a rather fierce some dragon covered in spikes that snapped violently at him. Harry looked sullen and Fleur herself felt that she sympathized with him. Barty crouch continued onwards though.

"The Hungarian horntail. These represent very real dragons, each of which has been given a golden egg to protect. Your objective is simple, collect the egg. This you must do, for each egg contains a clue without which you cannot hope to proceed to the next task. Any questions?" he asked, sounding eager to get on with the task. Fleur felt as though she were going to be sick.

"Very well, good luck champions. Mr. Diggory at the sound of the canon…" Dumbledore began but the cannon had already been fired, sending the whole tent swinging in one direction with the momentum. Fleur looked at Cedric, wanting to wish him good luck but he caught her eyes with a weak grin and disappeared out into the now-cheering crowd.

The wait, if just for Cedric's fifteen minute session was the worst part of the whole task. Fleur found herself constantly taking up to pacing while listening to the good and bad progress of Cedric. She secretly hoped that he was doing well. Finally the crowd went into a frenzy of loud cheering that could only mean that Cedric had gotten the egg. Fleur found herself cheering on the inside, her heart fluttering like a trapped mouse in the gaze of a cat. She was next. Bartimus Crouch came in from the tent flap, pausing as they changed the dragon to her own. Madam Maxime was standing to his right.

"Fleur, ze pride of Beauxbaton's iz with you!" she beamed, sure of her confidence in Fleur's abilities. Her ambitions were set, she had to survive this task not only for the pride of Beauxbaton's, but for the high lived courage and confidence that Cedric had in her. She smiled for once, full of nervousness. Bartimus Crouch gave her an okay and she walked through the flap hesitantly, her right hand along the cherry wood wand.

The dragon stood there, the exact picture of the small one that she had laid down on the cart with the rest of her stuff. It was a green dragon, a forest green with beautiful blue eyes and razor sharp teeth. Wrapped around the golden egg protectively, she glared at Fleur as the Beauxbaton's student walked out onto the rocky terrain. The crowd had grown silent with their once-attentive cheers, all anxious to see how well Fleur would do during this ordeal.

Testing the great creature, she stepped forward. Instantly it flapped its wings at her in warning, sending her to the ground roughly with the force of it. Fleur clutched tightly to her wand, putting her thoughts into effect. A sleeping charm would do just the right thing for her. Wand raised, she uttered the incantation to her, and the dragon's eyes began to droop. Smiling at her fortune at picking the right spell, Fleur repeated the charm; the dragon seemed to get sleepier.

Fleur waited until the dragon was good and sleeping until she approached gingerly. The crowd held its breath, afraid that the slightest of cheering would get the enormous creature to wake up and torch her into dinner. She reached her hand out, gloved-palms running over the tip of the golden egg. Rolling her fingers along the top, she slowly put it towards her, wand in her left hand temporarily. The egg was firm within her grasp when she heard the dragon take a deep breath. It was still sleeping but…she didn't have time to react other than to jump for the cover of a nearby rock, the egg forgotten momentarily as it slid down to her right.

Flames poured all around her and it was a miracle that none of them flamed her. Fleur was suddenly aware that as the dragon snored, her jacket had caught on fire. Panic seized her and she bat at the fire uselessly. Finally reality seized her when the fire moved down to her pants.

"_Aguamenti!_" she yelled and water jetted out of her wand, soaking her and putting out the fire. Fleur heard the dragon take another deep breath and she quickly snatched the egg and hid behind a further rock, curled up in a defensive ball. Why did the first task have to be dragons? The crowd cheered as she stood up, the dragon's snoring ceasing as it woke up from a groggy sleep. Fleur double checked herself for any signs of fire other than the burnt spots of her clothes. Finding none, she held the egg up in joyous victory and the sounds coming from the Beauxbaton's students were immense cheers.

"Another of our champions has passed on to the next task!" the announcer called and Fleur smiled as two of the dragon handlers motioned her towards the medical tent. There was nothing wrong with her but the nurse still wanted to make sure. Egg clutched in her grips, she walked into the medical tent with a wide grin.

She had survived!

Madam Pomfrey was tending to Cedric in the right corner, a curtain blocked Fleur's view of how bad his wounds were. Feeling a bit out of bounds, Fleur stood patiently in the corner, a bit cold from the fact that half of her was sopping wet and charcoaled. She was silently thankful that she hadn't actually gotten burned, though she imagined how odd she must've looked trying to put out a fire that had spread over her pants and shirts from a sleeping dragon…

"Ah, Miss Delacour I presume?" the lady asked, coming out from behind the curtain with a quizzical look on her face, "come here so I can get a look at you." She gestured, waving Fleur over to her. Fleur followed, getting a look at Cedric since the task. The whole left side of his face was covered in deep burns that she could only wince at, but other than that he looked alive enough to run a marathon.

"Hey, nice to see you made it in one piece too." Cedric grinned, he looked happy just to have gotten the task over with. Madam Pomfrey was prodding the burnt area of Fleur's shirt and pants for burns. Fleur had all her attentions fixed on Cedric.

" 'ow did you think you did?" she asked curiously. Cedric gave her a forelorn look as though to say, did you see my face?

"Well, it was all going good until the dragon took more interest in me than the dog decoy," he laughed, brushing his hair back, then placing his hands in his lap. Fleur smiled back at him.

"I used a sleep charm on eet, but ze dragon caught my jacket on fire!" she laughed, gesturing towards her burnt jacket, there was no saving it. Madam Pomfrey smiled.

"Looks like you got off easy Miss Delacour." She finished, thumbing through a bag for something. There was more cheering and Krum walked into the tent, clutching his egg with a triumphant, yet crooked, grin. Madam Pomfrey took one look at him and, finding no burns, ushered him off to the far end of the tent.

"I am glad zat you are safe." Fleur smiled, Madam Pomfrey looked at both Fleur and Viktor.

"I'm going to have to ask you two to step out, I've got to put some ointment on Mr. Diggory's burns. The champion's tent should be empty, I do believe it is Mr. Potter's turn now." She finished. Sighing, Fleur waved to Cedric once more and headed out after Krum.

She was still shaking from the shock of facing, and beating, a dragon when both Cedric and a very beaming Harry Potter walked back into the champion's tent, eggs clutched tightly in their arms. The judges, all three headmasters (and mistress) had come in, followed by Crouch and the minister of magic. Crouch was the one to speak first.

"All things considered, Mr. Potter is in first place followed by Miss. Delacour, Mr. Diggory, and," Crouch gave an annoyed look in Viktor's direction, "Mr. Krum." Fleur beamed, second place! Maybe this tournament wouldn't be so hard after all, Fleur was confident that she could provide a victory for Beauxbaton's. Cedric, who had been congratulating both Harry and Viktor then turned to her with a wide spread smile.

"You did it Fleur!" he said happily, looking rather happy himself. Fleur, all things considered, was very happy herself about the outcomes of this tournament. Without a word she flung her arms around Cedric, happy that he had survived the first task as well.

"Congratulations Cedric!" she smiled, pulling away and then proceeding to shake hands with both Krum and Harry. Cedric looked taken aback, grinning like a fool.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm starving." Cedric grinned.

**End:** thanks so much for all your comments, it keeps me fueled and ready to pull out another chappie, hot on the press! jammin' out to Rent as of late, great soundtrack but a sad story, gotta love light my candel. Anywho, please tell me who you think should have the narration for the second task... it will probably be Cedric but I would still like to know your ideas. Also post a comment to tell me who/what you want to see more of i'm really open for any suggestions . thanks!


	9. Fleeting Chance

**Disclaimer:** You know,I think that you get the point that I own nothing of this plot except for the intro and end notes, hey who know's I could make a fortune off of those someday! runs off to ebay

**Intro:** First off I'd like to ask you to please excuse my spelling grammers or anything of the sort as i've just written this on the spot so I could update...on a lighter note...I FINALLY FOUND MY FLOW! Er, that didn't come out right...All my ideas have come back and I am TOTALLY capable of finishing this fanfiction, in fact i'm living my whole life typing to update it asap! I'd like to thank you loyal fans for sticking with me, and the smart ones that put me on author's alert because I have a tendency to stop writting and pick things up randomly! Anyways...here comes the next chapter HOT off the press, enjoy!

Fleeting Chance

_Rain's falling and it's miserable, and when it hazes over  
Any time now, I'll be remembering what you said  
In the night sky after the rain, a star emerges beautifully  
And I figure I can fall in love with the rain_

-Houkiboshi, Bleach

"The Yule ball! Of course everyone will be going!" Cho said excitedly as she tugged on Cedric's arm, the same beautiful smile she always wore was on. Her obsidian hair swayed with the cool winter breeze as he opened the school's door that led out to the green house. Cedric stopped in his tracks.

"Oh? It's a pretty big even then," he grinned; I wonder if Fleur has anyone to go with…he thought to himself sourly. Once again he found the French beauty dancing around his thoughts, beckoning him with her veela charms. After the performance in the first task the two had talked a lot, about nothing, if such a concept could make any sense. He had been too busy admiring the way her blue eye sparkled, the pale complexion she held glowing like moonlight despite the burnt spots on her Beauxbaton's uniform. Cedric realized he had been caught in another reverie as Cho's voice cut through his thoughts once more.

"Will you?" Cho asked, eagerly looking into his own eyes. Cedric, caught in the middle of something he had been zoning out only looked at her stupefied for a minute, finally realizing that the only way to delve back into the inviting dream world was to answer the question, so he just nodded.

"Sure." He said casually, Cho squealed slightly, hugging him as tightly as though he had just agreed to marry her. Cedric looked taken aback, but still wrapped his arms around her lightly.

"I'm so glad you'll go with me!" she said, pulling away and composing herself, "I've got to go shopping soon," she smiled, leaning in and planting a light kiss on his cheek. Cedric's heart sank. Go to the ball…with Cho? He had been picturing the graceful Fleur on his arm as they strode down together…A reality slap was well in order. He reminded himself that Cho was his girlfriend, and to go with anyone else seemed a ridiculous idea! Still, the image wasn't leaving…

"What's the matter? You feel sick?" she asked, pulling away with a concerned look on her face. Cedric tried his best to implant the same stupid grin that he always wore. It would be a bad idea to back out now.

"Nothing, just thinking about what I'm going to have to wear," he teased, joking with her. She laughed and waved.

"Well I'll let you figure that out, I've got History of Magic next and Bins is giving us a test," she said, smiling and then turning on foot to walk to the classroom. Cedric sighed, what had he gotten himself into?

It was a long, cold walk to the greenhouse, and by the time Cedric got there he was wet, cold, and extremely annoyed. Still, the icy blue eyes and brightening smile that greeted him were well worth the work out. Fleur, dressed in the same creamy blue she always wore, stood over a flower pot, dirt smudges coating her hands and arms as she worked to plant a few of the lilies that they had been working with. Placing his book bag on the shelves before the greenhouse area, he marveled at the heat the magic kept in.

"I 'eard zat zair iz to be a ball," Fleur smiled, pressing the dirt down around the flower rather messily. She wasn't really good at planting, in fact Cedric began to wonder why she even bothered with it, but he couldn't help but smile at her attempts. Rolling up the sleeves of his robe, he grabbed a nearby pot and took one of the lilies that were lying on the table, still feeling a bit sour about the whole Cho incident.

"Yea. Yule ball," He said, "only a week away. I don't think they really gave us enough time to get dates," he joked, though seriously angry that they were hosting a ball at all. What would he say to Fleur? Would she be hurt that he was going with Cho?

"Ah, yes…" she eluded, packing the rest of the soil down and eyeing one of the other students who looked positively jealous of the attention that Cedric was paying to her. Cedric failed to notice, he was too busy looking at the veela to even recognize what he was doing, "I 'ope zat roger does not ask me."

"Oh yes," he began, mimicking roger's voice as he mocked him, "'Fleur do you want some punch? What about the air, is it the right temperature in here?'" The two laughed at the perfectly pinpointed fact. Cedric felt a stab of jealousy for the ravenclaw captain. He probably would be the one that Fleur brought if Cedric didn't let Cho go. Fleur looked like she was trying to pat the soil on the flower down to nothingness now, as she stared at him.

"'Opefully someone else will ask me first," she smiled; Cedric wondered if that was a clue. He felt sickened by the thought he couldn't back out on Cho. His eyes fell to the lily that she was smothering absent mindedly,

"Uh, I think the lily has been patted down enough…" he began and she gasped as she realized that she had almost smothered the poor thing. From across the greenhouse Cedric saw Professor Sprout grinning. He turned back to Fleur, who had placed the flower back and reached for another pot, her hand brushing his accidentally.

"Sorry," she said, pulling away. Cedric ignored the small blush that he saw in her cheeks, "are you going wiz anyone?" she asked, as though casually, but he could hear the effort it took to ask those words. Cedric was taken aback by the way she asked, did she really feel for him? He couldn't help but think he was just being baited in…the question…to ask or not to ask? Cedric felt sick. Professor Sprout saved them thought.

"Mr. Diggory, could you come here please?" she asked, beckoning him over. Cedric shot a guilty look to Fleur and placed down the pot he had been working for. Why did dating and love have to be so hard? He was beginning to think that he should have avoided girls all together. His feet made no sounds as he approached the gardener.

"Yes?" he asked, dignified while his mind was spinning with possible answers to Fleur. He couldn't say anything too pathetic to Fleur or she would laugh at him. Cedric was interrupted by Sprout's words.

"Why don't you and Ms. Delacour go to the lake and fetch us some of the remaining buds on the Kerryspot tree? I think they'll make great for a sleeping potion, Madam Pomfrey needs more anyways. Besides," she gestured to the class, who looked much like they were going to go comatose, "I'm sure you'd rather do that than sit around and put a bulb in a pot." She grinned. Cedric couldn't believe his luck. He would be spending quite a while of the class with Fleur, well, alone with Fleur.

"Alright," he grinned and walked back to Fleur, who looked up from the bulb she had just planted, "Professor Sprout wants us to go pick Kerryspot flowers." He smiled. Fleur looked at him blankly.

"In zis weather?" she asked, gesturing towards the foot of snow that had accumulated on the grounds. She was wearing her normal robes with the Beauxbaton's logo over it, "I would freeze!" she exclaimed, though he could see the spark in her eyes over the promise of some alone time with him. Cedric had already though of this, his eyes swaying to his scarf and jacket. He picked the two up with the sweep of his hands, handing them to her.

"Use these then," she looked taken aback, as though she hadn't expected such an outcome. She shook her head, silver strands of hair moving according to her, looking much like wisps of silver.

"I couldn't…" she began, but Cedric had already draped his Hufflepuff scarf around her neck loosely, putting the jacket on her shoulders. He couldn't help but smile at how nice she looked in the black robe jacket baring the yellow Hufflepuff logo. He was suddenly aware that the vast majority of the greenhouse was watching them, including the professor who had taken to leaning against the shelf and looking at them with a smile. Feeling a bit odd, Cedric ushered Fleur out of the greenhouse. The biting cold wasn't so bad knowing that Fleur was warm.

"No sense arguing, I don't want you to freeze to death out here, it shouldn't be long anyways the buds are really easy to get," he shivered slightly, unnoticeable to anyone who wasn't paying very close attention, "I had to get us out of that greenhouse anyways, did you see how that Ravenclaw glared at us?" A smile spread across her face as he mentioned this.

"Eet iz always warm at Beauxbaton's, Eet never gets any colder, or warmer, zhen eet should be," she smiled, tugging the edges of the robe close to her to block out any of the cold. Cedric followed the foot-carved path down to the lakeside, admiring the winter's beauty. How could she not live with this? Cedric would miss the snow…

"I'd miss the snow, don't you ever get tired of Beauxbaton's?" he asked, glad that she wasn't pursuing the Yule ball anymore. He was sure that if she asked to go with him that he would say yes. Then telling Cho it had all been a big mistake wouldn't be that hard, maybe he could set her up to go with Davies or something…

"I do sometimes, taking zis trip to 'ogwarts was a much needed vacation, zough I love zee beauty of Beauxbaton's academy, we are very keen on appearance," she smiled. Cedric could only watch her, the snow making her skin seem even more beautiful in comparison. Had he ever seen a girl so beautiful in his life? The lake was fast approaching and soon Cedric found himself nearing the water's edge, the Kerryspot tree leaning over the now icy waters.

"There it is," he pointed out the tree, it looked like any normal tree only it was the only one that still contained buds, deep blue with a coat of ice on them, "looks like I'm going to have to climb up a bit to pick some…" he began, grabbing the edge of the tree and leaning over the water's edge as he reached for the bud.

"Look out or you might fall," Fleur called, concerned as he leaned his weight on his back foot and swung the right out in midair while leaning his weight to reach for the nearest bulb. The waters bellow him looked absolutely dreadful, almost waist length. Cedric dreaded anyone who took a swim in them, who knew what creatures could be lurking? His hand closed around the blue bud and he pulled, trying to get it detached from the tree.

"This is no problem…" he began, battling the tree branch to get the blue bud that they had come here for. He didn't see why this mattered so much but if he got it, it might impress Fleur with his state of balance. Leaning forward a little more, Cedric gave the bud one good yank. Instantly the bud tugged free, sending him flying forwards with nothing to lean on. He landed with a splash into the lake.

The water was deeper than he had imagined, his feet didn't even touch the bottom. The cold shards of water attacked him, making his skin break out with goose bumps as he tried to regain a head on which way he was. A haunting sound filled his ears, the singing of what seemed like some creatures. He couldn't tell what they sung but the requiem was haunting. His lungs gasped for air as his head broke the surface, Fleur was already pulling him in, and half submerged in the icy waters herself.

Grinning foolishly as he climbed up onto the cold snow, going numb almost, Cedric held out the bud. It looked beautiful, like it was comprised entirely of ice. Even sitting there in the snow, dripping wet and freezing, Cedric couldn't help but admire the beauty. Fleur gave him a concerned look, soaked from the waist down with the mucky pond water. She shivered as she spoke.

"Are you okay?" her lips mirrored the blue of his. Cedric frowned, standing up and suddenly aware of how cold everything was. Fleur shivered, looking much like she was going to pass out. Cedric himself could feel the threat of hypothermia pressing closer.

"I guess we should go back, eh?" he stuttered as he shivered, making her smile.

Madam Pomfrey eyed him as he held the blanket close to himself, sitting on the hospital bed in another set of his Hufflepuff robes. To his right sat Fleur, not shivering but still looking a bit cold as she tugged her own blanket tightly to keep in the warmth.

"Honestly, what was she thinking sending you to pick buds? You two are lucky that you didn't freeze to death out there!" Cedric shot a look at Fleur, grinning the same goofy grin he always did. Madam Pomfrey shook her head, leaving the room to go fish through her medicine cabinets. Fleur sighed, looking to him with her sparkling blue eyes.

"'Ow are you feeling?" she asked, concerned, her hand fell to his forehead, checking for warmth. Her hands were warm, compared to the freezing temperature of him.

"Cold." He laughed; she smiled, knowing that he was okay. She stood up, draping the blanket that she had once been tugging close to her over him now.

"You are freezing!" she exclaimed, taking his hands in hers and rubbing hers against them to create some warming friction. He could only grin more at the foolishness of his situation. How his friends would laugh once they heard he fell into the lake…still the haunting voices played about in his head, he thought of telling Fleur but then supposed she would think him delusional.

"Thanks for pulling me out Fleur," he smiled, "I can't believe I fell in!" he laughed at himself, feeling the small bit of warmth her hands offered. Even with two blankets on he felt as though he were still in the lake. It was now that he was suddenly aware of how empty the hospital wing was.

"Eet iz nothzing, I would want ze competition to be ruled out due to some foolish injury," she joked and he managed a weak smile. It was now or never, if he really liked Cho than he wouldn't be having this problem. This was it, she was here, and she cared about him, despite what he might have thought. Cedric paused, taking a deep breath.

"Fleur, are you going with anyone to the ball?" he asked, hopeful that this would buy him the fraction of time that he wanted. It wasn't that he didn't want to ask her, it was the outcome he feared. If she didn't love him then she would decline and the whole charade that she had put on would turn him as cold as he now felt.

"Non, I told you zat Roger was probably going to ask me," she said sullenly, taking her hands back to her side, his hands were warmed now. Cedric could feel the anxiety eating away at him as he battled with himself over how to ask her.

"Do you-," he didn't get out the rest for the hospital wing doors had flung open and Cho was coming in, looking very concerned. It was like watching his world slowly spiral down into a pit of nothingness; her walk seemed to be the blade of judgment that swung down. Her arms flung around him where he sat, her concerned words sending the words he was about to ask right down his throat.

"Cedric are you okay? I saw you fall in the lake!" she cried, holding his still weight face with her two delicate hands. Fleur sat timidly on the hospital cart to his right, Cho was unaware that she was there.

"Fine, Cho." He growled and she planted a kiss on his lips, lightly.

"I thought that you were going to get hypothermia! It would've been bad if you had been sick for the ball," instantly Cedric tensed at the mention of the ball, trying to think of a way to stop her from sabotaging whatever now faded chance he had with Fleur, "I can't believe we're going together." He watched Fleur's reaction; the words hitting her much like a slap in the face. Cedric looked at her hurt expression, feeling the pain as though it were his own. Fleur, saddened and outraged, stood up silently, he could see her fist clenched in an effort as she stormed off angrily, her right hand brushing what Cedric assumed to be tears. Cedric stood up, pushing Cho out of his way.

"Fleur!" he called after her, running, but he was too late, she had already rounded the corner before he got to the doorway. Cedric stood staring down the empty hallways. Cho walked over to his side.

"What was that about? Was she mad at me? I didn't notice she was there …" she said softly, almost apologetically in her confusion. Cedric looked at her, for once in his life carrying an angry expression. He quickly looked away from her, not wanting to see that he too was angry with her.

"Ms. Chang, if you would I want Mr. Diggory to stay in the hospital wing, he looks liable to jump out at any given moment," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder and ushering him back to the spot in the hospital room. She handed him a blue potion which he downed immediately. Cho was talking with madam Pomfrey but Cedric wasn't listening.

"Bye Cedric, I'll come see you tomorrow," she smiled, waving and then leaving him alone to brood over the chance that he had just ruined. Cedric lay on the hospital bed for while until the sleeping potion set in, sending him to a much appreciated dreamless sleep.

**End: **Quite a problem, wouldn't you say? Things are not looking bright for either of them, though I must say i'm overjoyed that I could tie in a 'clue' for the second task handed to Cedric...yay me! Heehee. Alright, please don't beat me with the flipper for using Cho as a buffer between the two, it just seemed to be the right thing to do because without Cho these two lovebirds would be already engaged with a wedding planned in the coming months. I promise that the next chapter will be the one to blow your socks off, so don't wear socks when you read the next one, well, okay you can wear your socks but i'm warning you ... hah, okay its all the caffine i've had to get this going again that's made me such a spaz, forgive my wierdness and go comment so that I know I haven;t put you all to sleep.

Also, fanims/rants/assault ims can go to my new YIM acount: Fleurdlcur arigato!


	10. Confessions of the Heart

**Disclaimer: **I own zippo. As in this is totally not my storyline/plot/characters/etc

The Unwithering Flower

A small flower is blooming inside my heart,

The unwithering flower you gave to me,

I was able to believe strongly enough in myself,

So I'm not afraid anymore...

-Full Metal Panic, End theme

**Intro:** Alright, I know itsa short chapter but i've been bombarded with projects and other REAL life junk, this is probably a pretty boring chapter at first but once you hit the bottom be prepaired for a suprise! >grins> I spent most of friday editing this chapter since the last one and now its saturday morning and I could really do with a bagel. Just want to spam you for a moment here--> any one who's particularly into bleach and would like a bleach fanfiction can email me pairings that they like because i'm totally up for almost any suggestion. I'm going to be writing a bleach fanfiction AFTER I finish this one. Which btw, I think this fanfiction will last for five more chapters, but don't hold that to heart because hey, I'm still unsure of how to end this.

She hadn't been thinking right since the whole Cho incident. Of course he would have a date already! How had she been so blind as not to be able to figure it out? Cho was his girlfriend, and she, well she was just a friend. Still, the sting didn't hurt any less than before and Fleur could only watch others pass by with each other, feeling a bit lonely herself. There had been several brave attempties who had approached Fleur nervously jittering about going to the Yule ball with her but Fleur couldn't think of going with anyone other than him. She silently cursed herself for falling in love with the brave Hufflepuff. She sat there in the silent study, her page poised on a section about merpeople for Defense against the Dark arts, though her thoughts were flying into daydreams even as she read.

Merpeople prefer uninhabited lakes that aren't near humans, there have been several peace keeping attempts with various tribe leaders in the past, all having reached a height of understanding. The mere songs tend to hold a particular haunting air to them and often tend to chill those who listen. Still merpeople…

The book slammed shut with a thick poof sound, making most of the inhabitants of the study jump at the sudden disruption to the quietness. What use was studying if every other word seemed to be mingled in with thoughts of Cedric? Fleur eyed the study hall, catching glimpse of a red head that seemed to be walking towards her general direction, obviously he wanted to ask the professor standing watch for permission to leave or something like that. Fleur looked back down to her books, placing the quill back in the case she had and capping the ink.

"F-fleur Delacour?" A male voice called from behind her, Fleur averted her eyes to the red head that looked so nervous that he would melt if he could. She noticed that his fist was clenched tightly around the edge of his school robes as though just mustering up the courage to talk to her was enough.

"Ah? Did 'ou want sometheeng?" she asked, unsure of what this whole thing was about. The thing that happen next caught her completely off guard, he spoke to her very loud and clear as though the words were such an effort to get out that Fleur winced from the volume.

"DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE BALL WITH ME!" he asked very loudly, Fleur was well aware that the whole study hall was now watching, including the teacher who stood there just as shocked as Fleur. The heat had already begun to fill Fleur's face at the embarrassment of such a situation. She could feel her face turning a slight bit red. Just like that she let go of all the anger that she had been holding on the poor Gryffindor student, standing up with her fist clenched in anger at her side.

"NO!" she yelled, just as loud, giving him an angry look as though he had been the one to compel Cho to ask Cedric out. The kid just stood there for a moment, as though realizing what he had just did. It was a good thing that two of his friends took that very moment to grab him by the arms and pull him away before Fleur exploded again. The whole study seemed to be snickering behind her back and Fleur could feel the anger fade into humiliation. Without another word she snapped her books off of the table and stomped out of the hall.

Why was this happening to her? Was it really too much to ask just to be with the one you loved. Was this love? Fleur was sure that she would do anything for Cedric, if this wasn't a love-based feeling that she wouldn't know love in her life. She rounded the corner to the courtyard, tucking her books underneath her arm as she speeded down the hall. Finally she found her spot on the bench, the cold bit at her but she didn't care. Fleur let the tears slide down her cheeks, thankful that nobody was there. How humiliating! She had thought that Cedric would actually go to the ball with her! What a ridiculous notion! Fleur let a small sob escape her lips, staring at the ground.

"Hey…you really shouldn't be crying," the words were smooth, belonging to a guy. Fleur's heart froze, Cedric? She turned her head upwards, brushing back tears to see not Cedric, but a very serious looking Roger. He frowned at her appearance, "tears don't suit your beauty." He said nobly, handing her a spare tissue he had. Fleur smiled weakly and accepted the tissue, dabbing the tears from the corners of her eyes. Roger sat down besides her, acting strangely out of character. Fleur was glad to have someone around.

"Zank you Roger, eet 'as been a long day," she said, wiping the last tear away and letting out a feminine sigh. Her books sat on the bench besides her and she tucked the paper about merpeople back into the book from which it had fallen.

"Why were you crying?" he asked, she was disappointed by his lack of charms, Cedric wouldn't have been so straightforward, he would've thought of some crafty way to get her to laugh and then elude to what was wrong. But still, Roger was the one who was here, not Cedric.

"Bad day…" she sighed, folding her hands across her lap. She moved her azure gaze to fall on him, "what are you doing 'ere?" she asked curiously, changing the subject.

"I was looking for you," he paused, as though contemplating whether or not to continue, obviously he must've opted for continuing for the words he spoke next added on to the earlier sentence, "do you want to go to the ball with me?" he asked. It was just as she had predicted, only the circumstances were much different. Fleur stared at him motionlessly for a moment, as though unable to communicate intelligent thoughts. Should she go with him? Cedric already had a date…and she wasn't going to go with anyone else in this school…besides how could she possibly go there dateless and look like a fool? Any girl would pay to be displayed besides Davies; he was a very handsome man. Before she could stop herself, she answered.

"I'd love to go with you Roger," his eyes lit up, face full of greatness as her answer filled him with more confidence, but she continued, "but I can't…" what was she saying? To go to the ball with Roger was a girl's dream, and still, Fleur just couldn't…

"Its Cedric isn't it?" he asked, looking dull now, his noble shine disappeared with her rejections. Fleur immediately felt bad at the thought. How could she have upset Roger like this? She was a fool to turn him down. Still, she nodded somberly.

"'Ee already 'as a date…" she finished, "I would go with you but I can't go and fool you into zhinking zat I like you in zat way," she turned to Roger, taking his hands in hers, "You are amazing! Any girl would want to go to zee ball with you!" she exclaimed, smiling weakly. Roger returned her smile at her compliments.

"I understand completely Fleur," he paused, as though considering another option, "I'll go with you as a friend then, if that's alright. And who knows, maybe Cedric will suddenly be dateless and you can go with him! I wouldn't mind, so long as you were happy." Fleur was shocked by his understanding, the thoughts coming from Roger, the words, seemed so unlike him! But still she could only smile wider at his accepting of her feelings. Drawing him into a hug, she kissed both sides of his face in the French greeting.

"I knew you would understand! Zank you Roger, you are zee best friend I 'ave ever 'ad," she pulled away, taking her books in hand. Roger seemed to have returned to his normal self, looking quite pleased with the kisses that she had just given him. It was that simple, she would ask Cedric if he wanted to go with her even if he did have a date. If he loved her than he would've asked her first, not Cho and even if he had, he would've told her that they were just friends. It was so simple; Fleur couldn't help but feel grateful to the Ravenclaw Captain.

"Yule ball's tonight Fleur, I hope you've got a dress to wear, I'm sure you'll look stunning as always," he grinned and Fleur couldn't help but feel better. It was sorted out, Cedric didn't love her. Roger would be her date for the ball if she didn't ask him, and she didn't plan on asking him.

"Merci Roger!" she smiled again, resisting the urge to hug him closely as one does their best friend when confronted with great news. She was surprised at how simple the answer was, "I am sure zat you will look 'andsome in anything zat you wear, I will see you zair zhen." She smiled, waving. Fleur wanted to go back to the carriage to get herself ready for the dance. It wasn't too long before the ball would begin and Fleur didn't want to risk finding out that something had gone missing.

"See you there than Fleur!" He saluted and turned on heel to go to his class no doubt. Fleur smiled to herself as she walked across the lawn, admiring the winter scenery. It was beautiful…the snow. She wondered if the ball's settings could rival Beauxbaton's winter display. Fleur sighed, tugging her books close to her so that she didn't drop them. This wasn't so bad; she would be going to the ball with Roger and, no doubt, having a great time.

Without warning the paper that she had tucked so strategically in her book went flying in the wind, landing on the cobblestone pathway before her, the snow beginning to soak into the parchment. Fleur cussed, reaching to pick up the paper. Her hand hit someone else's as she attempted to grab the paper and place it back in the book. She stood up, eyes gazing into chocolate brown orbs.

"I believe you dropped this…" his voice was soft; the same beautiful melody that it held could only belong to one person. Cedric. She paused, hand extended and gripping the paper tightly as though it were a lifeline. The soggy portion of the paper had covered up the merperson portrait that had been posted. Fleur found herself lost in those dark eyes once again. For a moment the two just stared. Finally, she found her voice.

"Merci," she thanked, filing the paper more securely in the book and nodding coldly at him. She couldn't help but feel the same sad emotions that she had before when Cho had happily announced their going to the ball together. Without another word, Fleur brushed by him and began her walk, filled with French pride.

"Fleur, wait!" he called after her and Fleur stopped, as though his word were law. Why did she love him so much? Still, she turned around; he was less than a foot away from her. Fleur looked at him, eyes full of hurt. This had been the first time they had spoken in a week and all she could do was stare at him boldly. Her eyes held the sparkle of her pride, something that she wouldn't let anyone trample.

"Oui? She asked, a bit confused as to why he was talking with her now that he had a date to the Yule ball. Did he value her more as a friend…or was he just trying to charm her again so that he could play with her emotions? Fleur couldn't bring herself to turn around and start walking again, so she just stared at him emptily.

"Listen," panted, obviously having run quite a ways down here to speak with her, "I know I made a big mistake but its not what you think, I'm such a fool to have done that!" he said and Fleur could feel an apology coming on. At least he knew that he had hurt her feelings…still Fleur couldn't help but think that there was more to this than one friend's apology to the other. She gripped her books tightly, so as not to appear as mad at him as she was.

"I didn't mean to do that to you," he continued and she speculated much like someone waiting to here bad news with a somber expression, "I'm so sorry Fleur, I've been thinking about you this whole week and I just can't shake that scene. Truth is that I don't love Cho. It was a misunderstanding that I cleaned up between us," he paused, speculating as to how the words had gone over with her. Fleur paused, playing the words over in her mind. He didn't…love Cho? Her heart raced at the prospect. It didn't matter though…he was still going with her.

"Eet iz okay, I understand, you don't 'ave to be mean to 'er to get me back as your friend," she smiled weakly; sure that she had pinpointed his need for apology. Her blond-silver hair was swaying in the breeze, some strands escaping her pony tail due to the strong winds and slight promise of snow. Cedric looked at her, as though he hadn't comprehended what she said.

"Fleur, we broke up." The words hit her as though she had dropped something heavy that she was holding and the relief was immediate. They broke up? How could this be…weren't they so close when she had first met Cedric? A moment later she understood. When they had first met, since they had first met…did that mean? Cedric continued, unaware of what he had sparked in her.

"I'm not going to the ball with her anymore because…" he trailed off, eyes catching hers with his own. She was lost in his eyes for a moment, thinking of the many times he had come to spend with her instead of Cho. It all added up. Did he feel the same way that she did for him?

"Because?" she asked, her French accents making the normal word seem so beautiful. She could feel the cold wind tugging at her clothes and hair but Fleur remained still, watching him. One word would silence her doubts about what he was saying to her.

He paused, as though unsure. He placed his lips on hers in a chaste kiss, pulling away immediately as though afraid that he would upset her. Her books dropped softly to a dry patch on the ground, shock evident in her face. Fleur felt lost, the feel of his lips on hers sending a shiver down her spine. She could feel the newly found fire that sparked between the two. It was like a dream…Fleur could only stare at Cedric. A small flake of snow landed on her hand, several others followed. It was snowing.

"I 'ave been wondering what you thought of me, I thought zhat you loved Cho," she said, tears forming in her eyes at the relief of the whole thing. She tried to form words to her feelings but couldn't seem to get any words out of her mouth. It was like she was dreaming, Fleur could only smile. Cedric lightly wiped away her tears with a tissue that he had pulled out of his pocket. Putting his arms around her in a hug, her books were momentarily forgotten on the pavement where she had dropped them when he kissed her. Fleur could feel her heart melting at the perfect ness of this moment. The snow had picked up, causing the beauty to increase at the winter's scene of the small little snow flakes coating their hair and clothes.

"Fleur, do you want to go to the ball with me?"

**End: **I believe this is the point where most readers melt in their seats over the romantic beauty of it all (if I have written in correctly), so here's a towel! Heehee. I hope that i've done everything just right between the two, reaction-wise and what not. I was really hesitant to post this chapter because it was a little shaky at first, but through revisions, and lots of tea, I think i've gotten the hang of it. . Of course the next chapter is strictly about the ball and all that jazz. and then, poof, second task coming up. Now i'm a little unsure of what to do, figuring i've already twisted the results on the ball i'm probably going to twist who cedric has to save, >evil grin> maybe not. I can't decide...comments?


	11. A Date

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing >grumbles>

**Special Kudo's to my fans who have kept reading this even after all this time, **

**You really do fuel my writing and help me to get through another chapter!**

**A Date**

_One by one, _

_I'm learning things like heartbreak and smiles_

_Even though I knew those words my heart was confused_

_But know I can tell of the meaning of love._

_I think there is something that only I can do for you. _

_Someday, without a doubt, the day is coming _

_when I will protect you.. _

_-Outlaw star_

**Intro: **Yay! Another chapter! >dances> I can't believe that I got this done so fast! I'm really not sure as to how this chapter came out, it was the product of an after sleepover writing binge that lasted quite a while. But, more realistically, there is finally more romance in the chapter, though I haven't the slightest idea if it came out any good. >takes a moment to think> well, I suppose I've added the little bit about Ron because I felt bad about how Fleur treated him in the last chapter though I didn't want to twist the plot and not add him in. anywho, before you die from reading the long, drollintroductions that I alway seem to type, here is the next chapter...

Much like an ice palace, the decorations of the great hall caused her to inhale sharply, completely breath taken at such a display. Fleur could only speculate as she walked into the room, her arm around Cedric's. Glowing blonde hair had been tied in the back and pinned with a beautiful flower-like pin that she had gotten from her mother. The dress she wore was eloquent silver, her eyes seemed to glow a sapphire blue thanks to the sharp crimson of her lips and grace in her step.

"Beautiful, I 'ad no idea zat eet would be zhis breathtaking!" Fleur exclaimed, looking to her date, the handsome Hufflepuff whom had asked her to the ball not more than two hours ago. She leaned close to him, glad that this was real and not a dream. Cedric, who looked just as happy as she, managed another award-winning smile. The two stood there, looking much like the image of a perfect couple. Fleur kept a look out for Roger, feeling a bit bad about having to tell him last minute that she had gotten a date.

Her eyes fixed on the empty dance floor as they stood there, Viktor Krum walked down the stairs with a fairly beautiful girl clinging to his arm that Fleur could not recognize. Maybe she was from Durmstrang…Harry stood talking with the boy from before who had asked her to the ball and Fleur felt a small twinge of guilt about the way she had treated the poor kid, she had been angry after all…her eyes were alert for Cho, hoping that she wouldn't be getting dirty looks the whole dance.

"You look great Fleur," he grinned and she was about to reply when a middle aged woman, the Transfiguration teacher, approached them with a worried look on her face, she ushered the four champions together, raising her eyebrow at both Cedric and Fleur as though pondering whether or not that it was allowed in the rules to have two champions go together. She didn't seem to bother with it anymore for she had already begun speaking.

"Alright champions, you're to start off the ball, Ms. Delacour and, er, Mr. Diggory you are going to go out first followed by Mr. Krum and Ms. Granger, then Mr. Potter and, Ms. Patel." With that they were off, Cedric proudly leading Fleur to the dance floor, her silver gown trailed behind her gracefully. She couldn't keep the smile from spreading across her lips as most of the students tried to make sense of the pair. Was this the first time that two champions had gone to the ball together? Still, they rested on the dance floor, waiting for the other two champions to get in position.

"Don't trip," she teased him and watched as he tried to bite back a laugh. The two smiled at each other, eyes meeting as the music began. It was a slow, bouncy waltz that played, Cedric placed his hands on her waist and she put her hands on his shoulders, still smiling. Then they took off into the dance, showing to be the most graceful couple, Fleur twirled slightly.

"I though that you would've already had a date," Cedric said as they danced, though only the two could hear it. Fleur shook her head, spinning slightly as the dance demanded.

"Non, I was asked many times but I…" she paused, the dance coming to an end as the two talked softly, "I didn't want to go with anyone other zhan you." She finished, blushing a slight bit in a very uncharacteristic way. Cedric seemed to soak this in, twirling her once more and then catching her as the dance ended.

"I was having nightmares about going with Cho and never being able to speak to you again," he said, grinning, gesturing towards one of the tables that were empty. The weird Sisters had taken over the orchestra and were now strumming some catchy tunes. Fleur let him lead her to a seat, pulling the chair out so that she could sit down.

"I am glad zat you asked," she smiled, placing her hand on Cedric's as they sat there, lost in each others eyes for a moment. The dance around them seemed to not matter anymore, all that mattered was each other. Fleur took in Cedric's good looks with glossed-over eyes, not believing that he could look anymore handsome than he had before. For a moment the two just stared, and then a voice broke her gaze, turning her eyes to face in back of her. It was Roger.

"Fleur! Cedric!" he exclaimed, a beautiful black-haired girl that Fleur recognized from Beauxbatons was at his side, giggling slightly as she held on to Roger's arm. Fleur smiled, glad that he had gotten a date after all, "you guys look great together!" he laughed, putting his arm around the black-haired French girl.

"Ah, I see zat you 'ave gotten a date as well," Fleur said enthusiastically, as though wishing for an introduction. Roger only grinned devilishly.

"This is Monique, she's a year younger than you Fleur so I'm not sure that you'd know her," Monique only giggled more, as though incredibly joyful to be displayed on the left arm of Roger Davies. Fleur shot a glance to Cedric, who returned her glance with a smile, "well I'm off to go dance, I love this song!" he called to them with a wave and took his date back out to the dance floor.

"Who would believe that Davies could get over you?" he grinned as soon as the pair had left. Fleur kept up her confident smile while giving a laugh.

"Wonders never cease!" she said, hinting towards him asking her to the ball as well. Cedric smiled at her.

"No, they don't. I don't think that this night could get any better, or that you could get anymore beautiful." He said, sending a shiver up her spine.

Fleur soon got lost in the evening, dancing and talking with Cedric at every chance. Cho hadn't been around, and if she had, the two never noticed. Very few students were left by the end of the dance, consisting of only a few couples who seemed to be enjoying themselves, including both Cedric and Fleur. The song that went on next was slow, the snow falling from the roof of the great hall added an icy touch to the room and Cedric stood up.

"Care to dance?" he asked, holding out his hand to her. Fleur placed her hand in his, letting him lift her to her feet as though she were a feather. The two approached the dance floor. She wrapped her hands around his shoulders; his hands fell to her waist and the two swayed back and forth.

"Eet is like a dream," Fleur said softly, resting her head on his shoulder as they danced. She was very tired from all the dancing, but her heart didn't want this evening to end. It had been perfect.

"Yea…" Cedric sighed in agreement. Fleur couldn't help but wonder if this would be it. Would the two go back to normal relations after this? She hoped that it would be something more…the words had escaped before she could stop them.

"So zhen, zis iz eet? After zis do zings go back to normal between us?" she asked softly as they swayed to the beat of the music, Fleur couldn't help but feel that she could fall asleep in his arms.

"Not unless you want it to," He said majestically and she smiled, pulling away from him as the dance ended. Slipping her hand into his, Fleur pulled him off of the near-empty dance floor and the two were out in the bridge, where the two had first talked alone. Cedric looked surprised by her enthusiasm, but let himself be led wherever she was taking them.

"Look at zee stars!" she said, letting go of his hand as she placed her arms over the side and gazed up at the dark midnight sky. She could feel Cedric rest against the ledge to her right.

"Its just like before…the first time we met," he sighed and Fleur could only agree as the two stood there, love struck. Fleur closed her eyes, leaning her head against Cedric and letting the scent of him lull her. Finally she lifted her head from his arm and sighed, no longer leaning on the ledge or Cedric.

"Eet iz late…zee third task iz only a week away." She said sadly, as though the bearer of bad news. Cedric frowned, a perfect indication that he too hadn't been able to find the clue. The two stood there for a moment, figuring what to say.

"Fleur, if anything happens to you I won't be able to live," he said, looking sullen. Fleur was confused by the concern that he had shown, unsure that she herself had ever seen so pure an emotion that was because of her. Reassuringly, she placed her hand in his.

"Zhan I will be sure to keep myself safe," she smiled, looking very much like the perfect picture of tired. Cedric must've noticed this because he let out a sigh, turning to face her.

"Mind if I escort you back to the carriage? You look like you are ready to fall over from exhaustion," he grinned, Fleur only nodded with a weak smile. She was indeed incredibly tired from all of the events of the day, the emotional stress, the emotional joy, the dancing; it was all catching up with her. He took his hand in hers and the two began to walk down to the Beauxbaton's carriage, in silence.

"Fleur…" he said, breaking the long silence that had passed between the two.

"Mmm?" she asked, sleepily as she let Cedric lead her back to the carriage, they were almost there now. She could hear the soft clicks of her heals on the freshly shoveled walkway leading down to the carriage, her heels digging into her feet as she walked. Beauty had quite a price it seemed.

"Do you want to go out with me?" he asked, catching her off guard, go out? As in boyfriend and girlfriend? He really hadn't made it finally come to think of it…but still, to be referred to as Cedric's girlfriend? Fleur couldn't seem to be able to comprehend that. She was silent, looking at him as though the words were beyond her, "what I'm trying to say Fleur is…well…I love you." A shiver spun up her spine and Fleur stopped walking, well aware that they were less than two feet away from the carriage.

"I love you to Cedric, more zhan you could possibly imagine," she said, pulling him close and placing her lips against his in a deep kiss. The two stood there in each others arms, Cedric returning her kiss. Finally it was she who broke away, gazing into his eyes. He was the first to speak.

"You better get some rest Fleur," he said, placing one more kiss on her lips, "I'll see you tomorrow in Herbology." With that she could only agree, nodding as her slender fingers pulled the door open to the carriage and she waved good bye to him, shutting the door behind.

For a while, she watched through the window as the love of her life walked back to the castle, looking much awestruck as she had when gazing into his eyes.

Fleur found it hard to concentrate on much of anything as she made her way back to her room. Most of the compartments of the other Beauxbaton students were closed, indicating that she was probably the only girl left awake. It didn't bother her. She opened the door to her room, the scene of elegance that reflected what a princess's room was sure to look like. The carriage had been set so that they each had their own rooms, unlocked by three taps from their wands. Hers was, by far, the biggest, thanks to her selection as a champion. Her eyes fell on the egg as she slipped into her pajamas, consisting of a blue tank top and blue pajama bottoms that look more like a pair of short gym shorts.

"Looks…kind of like it should belong at zee bottom of a fish tank," she laughed softly, grabbing the egg in her arms as she opened the door to her room. It was no use falling asleep after such a great night, she was going to take a bath and hopefully find some clue to the wretched screeching egg that they had given her. Sleepily, she trudged down the hall and opened the door with an exclusive password that she had been given by madam Maxime. Only three of the other students knew of this huge spa-like room, the rest took showers in the public rooms.

Pulling out a few tiles and turning the nozzle to the huge spa tub on, Fleur sat at the edge of the tub. It filled pretty quickly but Fleur always hated to take a bath feeling the water that was cold first come into the tub. She sat the egg in her lap, humming to herself a small tune. Her thoughts were still stuck on Cedric, enthused that the handsome Hufflepuff had made her dreams come true.

"I'm going to figure zis out, I can't let Cedric even get 'urt in zis task," she said stubbornly, fiddling with the egg as though there was some secret code written on it. The water in the tub was beginning to touch the tips of her toes, Fleur was grateful that the water was burning hot, the bubbles that formed at the top sparkled. It was no use worrying over it, the top seemed to be the only thing that worked on the egg and that only emitted screams.

Preparing her ears for a very unpleasant sound, Fleur clicked the egg open hesitantly. The loud screeching made her wince and she felt her hands slip on the egg, dropping it into the water accidentally.

"Oh! Zoot!" she cursed, standing up as she reached to undress so that she could retrieve the troublesome clue. She didn't get time because her foot caught the ledge of the tub involuntarily and she fell into the steaming bathwater. Immediately after her head broke the perfect surface of the water, a melodic hum filled her ears. It was a song…

_Come seek us where our voices sound._

_We cannot sing above the ground._

_An hour long you'll have to look,_

_To recover what we took_.

She gasped for breath as her head broke the surface. The egg had sung to her! Immediately her reading from before echoed in her mind, the voices…they were…merpeople? She had to rescue someone? What had they taken? Cedric? She rationalized her thoughts…it was just a game; there was no way that someone could get hurt. Besides, Cedric was a champion, had he figured this out. Sopping wet, she grabbed the egg in her hands and closed it shut underwater. This was important; she would have to tell Cedric about it tomorrow.

**End: **Gah! I had SERIOUS trouble constructing the last bits of the chapter. Think about it, me thinking how to get Fleur in a bathtub without mentioning the fact that she would have to UNDRESS to get the stupid thing done. >dies> but i've pulled if off withzero insults to the ratings. Go me. Anyways, next chapter will be narrater inCedric's point ofview because this one was sorta the other half of that last chapter that I published.To get down to the point, I do believe that the next chapter will remain the same as the onein the book because, I really have NO idea of who else to put because Fleur's already a champion and, well, it just won't work. Then again, maybe i'll suprise you! Guess you'll have to tune in to the next week to find out, eh? If only I wasn't so decisive...


	12. Heartbreaker

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but Cedric's favorite sweatshirt -evil laugh-

**Intro:**

It's been a while guys and, quite frankly, I have my muse back. I'm hoping that this chapter is as good as I think it is and that you guys won't be disapointed. I'm going to be finishing up this fanfiction this summer so that you don't have to keep posting comments to tell me to get my but moving . Well, I hope you enjoy and i'm warning you this is one angsty chapter because i'm prepping for the final battle scene; the maze. Bum ba bum...

All I Ask of You 

_Then say you'll share with me, _

_One love, one lifetime . . .  
let me lead you from your solitude . . . _

_Say you need me with you  
here, beside you . . .  
Anywhere you go, let me go too -  
that's all I ask of you . . . _

_-Phantom of the Opera-_

**.:Chapter 12:.**

The day seemed to pass in a happy haze and, not once, could Cedric stop smiling. His friends were beginning to think that something was seriously wrong with him! But the young Hufflepuff cared less what they thought. Fleur loved him! Cedric relayed their conversation over and over again inside of his head like it was a recording. Fleur Delacour; the beauty of Beauxbatons love him! The urge to shout was there and he had to strongly resist it lest they take him to Madame Pomfrey. Footsteps echoed on the school's halls as he walked, feeling rather perky. A flash of blue appeared behind him and he turned around thinking it was Fleur.

"Good morning!" he chirped.

"Hey Cedric..." the words seemed kind of beaten, especially since they came from Cho.

He felt as though he had swallowed rocks. Hadn't he promised to go to the ball with Cho? A certain sort of guilt wrenched his heart because he had turned his back on that promise to go with his true love. But he didn't regret his choice, not once; he'd do it all over again if he had to. Cedric felt the weight of his books in his hands grow heavier as he took in the no-longer-smiling black-haired girl before him. She carried a small amount of books and had a somber expression. He wondered if something else was bugging her...no he _hoped _it was something else bugging her.

"What's up?" the words were cautious.

"Nothing much, just heading to History of Magic soon." She sighed, "But I came here to talk to you."

Talk to him? This couldn't be good...

"Alright, Fire away."

Cho's eyes fleeted from side to side, taking in the area that they were standing in. She seemed a bit unnerved by where they were as though what she had to talk about was no matter to be talking about in public. Cedric found himself even more worried. She was his friend, right? So friends didn't talk about dating or whether or not their friends had girlfriends thanks to a certain dance that happened yesterday. For once his smile faltered under the pressure of his heart. He gripped her shoulder lightly and brought her to the secluded corner of the walk way.

"Listen...I know you think about mad about you and Fleur but I'm not. I don't want to be the brooding stalker-girl of the cute couple and I'm actually very glad you found someone...so, in not so many words; Congratulations on finding Fleur! I hope this doesn't make our friendship become strange...I assure you that my feelings are only friendly; I've got a new crush now," She grinned.

Facial expressions lighting up, Cedric couldn't help but grin at what he was hearing. The exact opposite of what he had expected had just happened! It was like a god send. Unthinkingly he drew Cho up in a hug and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Happiness swelled over him at this new realization. Cho seemed a little surprised with his reaction as though she had never seen this side of Cedric. She pulled away from the hug with a shocked expression.

"You really must be in love!" she laughed, "I've never seen you so cheerful before!"

He couldn't help the flush that came to his cheeks. Fleur had that affect on him.

"Yeah. She's amazing...and did I hear something about a new crush?" he raised his eyebrow.

"Yep. I'm not telling!" Cho laughed defiantly as a friend would and slapped him on the shoulder, "see ya sometime soon!"

With that she was off. Cedric sighed and turned his eyes towards the garden. His face lit up as he saw the beautiful figure of his one and only love standing there...only something about the way she stood was off. Fleur seemed to stand there as though in shock, her face a mask of feelings. He wondered what was wrong and then instantly realized his mistake. What an idiot he had been! Of course if she saw him hug Cho she would believe he still had feelings for her. Fleur brushed what looked like a teardrop from her eye and Cedric instantly felt his heart torn in two as she ran off.

"Wait! Fleur!" he yelled after her but she had already disappeared into the distance.

He felt his heart sink.

The water pooled into the great bath, steaming hot, as he sat there brooding. Fleur hadn't been in herbology today. Why hadn't he thought about what he was doing? Shouldn't she assume it was a friendly hug!? No...He had loved Cho before the French beauty had showed herself to him. It would only be common sense to connect the two together. Cedric felt like an idiot. He seriously contemplated writing a letter but that seemed too impersonal. The brave figure decided that he would have to win her back by something he did in person. He let that subject rest so he could only slightly relax in his bath; Fleur was always on his mind.

"Idiot!" he sighed to himself and gazed at his belongings.

Among the pile of stuff he brought was the horrible golden egg. Feeling rather miserable, he decided that the screeching inside wouldn't ruin his day anymore than he had already done. Grabbing the edges of the egg, he flipped the cap fasten off and listened to the nails-on-a-chalk-board quality. His fingers were wet from the water and he didn't retain a very good grip of it. With a great floop and a loud bang, it hit the bottom of the water. The screeching instantly stopped and from the water he could hear a certain sort of humming as though the sound had turned into a song. Instantly his mind clicked two and two together.

"Mermen?" he sucked in some air and submerged himself.

_Come seek us where our voices sound._

_We cannot sing above the ground._

_An hour long you'll have to look,_

_To recover what we took_

What they took? What could they possibly take from him that was of value? His best sweatshirt? Cedric couldn't help but scoff at the idea. It wasn't like he was a very materialistic guy so then why would it matter? But still the challenge was there, right? He resurfaced with a gasp for air and leaned against the bathroom wall. Biting his lip, he ran through his options. Nothing seemed to make sense to him that they would want. Then another idea came to him. If he knew this clue, did Fleur? She would be in serious danger if she didn't! Perhaps this would be just the thing to make up for what he had mistakenly done earlier?

It was perfect!

The Hufflepuff moved to get out of the water but stopped, realizing that the egg was still singing its song at the bottom of the pool. Once again feeling like a fool, he dove underwater again to get the artifact and plopped it on the cement. It was probably about 8 at night but he was going to go tell her anyways, just because he couldn't bear to fall asleep with the imprint of her somber expression forever in his mind. Knowing that she was in such a sad state made him want to give up living. Wrapping the towel around his bathing-suit clad figure, he grabbed his stuff and headed for the Hufflepuff common room so that he could change; she probably wouldn't take him seriously if he approached the door of the Beauxbatons carriage wearing nothing more than a bathing suit and a towel around his waist.

Or maybe she would, who knew?

He arrived there fashionably on time, it was now officially 9 and curfew was at 10. That would make his life slightly easier that he didn't have to dodge through the halls while pretending to be sleep walking. Wearing his favorite sweatshirt, which hadn't been taken as those lovely mermen had said, he found himself standing like a lost puppy outside of the Beauxbaton's carriage which seemed to have increased in size. His hair was still wet though no longer dripping. Cautiously he let his hand hover over the door, almost afraid to knock. He didn't have to because the second after he had done that the door whipped open and the rather large figure of Madame Maxine stood glaring at him.

"Oui?" she raised her eyebrow impatiently.

"Evening, I hate to bug you but could I please," his words ran away under the pressure of the Beauxbaton's headmistress, "Could I please talk with Fleur? I have something important to tell her."

Cedric hoped that the rather large woman would patch his request through to his love so that he could tell her what truly happened. He was still kicking himself over the stupid mistake he had made. What had processed him to hug her like that? Shear stupidity that was what had done so. The woman before him seemed hurt by the request, almost insulted and Cedric knew at once that he was going to have trouble talking to Fleur again.

"Eet iz pazt Beauxbatons curfew! Go back to your dorm young man." She barked.

A voice behind her stopped the woman from closing the carriage and sealing Cedric's lonely fate. Pale fingers landed on the Madame's shoulder and instantly Cedric found himself recognizing who they belonged to. How could he forget the way that ivory skin covered those slender fingers? He had spent many times holding them within his own. Cedric's heart lit up and she began to speak to the Madame in French.

"_Je serai bien_." She spoke, her French as beautiful as she.

"Êtes-vous sûr?" The Madame.

"Oui," his love.

She descended the stairs wearing a gown of white that made her look unlike anything he had ever seen before. Fleur's eyes were puffy and red from the tears that she had been crying but they were dried at current. She was barefoot and looked much as though she was a goddess stepped out from a page in a mythology book. Cedric found himself dumbstruck in her presence, as he always had when her beauty shined over him. Her expression was empty and he felt the weight of her pain as though it were his own.

"Fleur. It wasn't what you think, I mean," he couldn't find the words.

"Ou don't 'ave to lie to me anymore Cedric," she spoke, "I understand."

Those words drove daggers into the very center of his heart. How could she think such a thing was his doing? That he didn't care for her? Cedric felt his heart melt as he gazed at the figure in front of him. He wanted so much to pull her into his arms and tell her she was all he wanted but something told him if he did that Madame Maxine would wring his neck.

"No. Oh! Oh! The egg, put it underwater and listen to what it sings the-" he was cut short by her voice.

"Eez that all 'ou care about? Zis contest? I didn't realize zhat 'ou were just using me to get information! Madame has made zis so clear to me now. So goodbye Cedric, I loved you once. From now on we are enemies," her eyes were cold now, nothing like the warm gaze that she had fixed on him before.

"Wait, Fleur! No that's not it! I, argh! I'm sorry! "He struggled for words.

Fleur wasn't listening to him as she opened the doors of the carriage and started to ascend the long line of stairs. Cedric moved after her but not so much so as to appear threatening. He couldn't believe what he had heard! She thought he had just been using her? Cedric felt those last words cut through his heart, tearing it into two. He couldn't believe this was happening to him. Why? She paused before she shut the door behind her, turning her head to gaze at him with that hollow look.

"Me too."

The door shut and with it Cedric's heart shut.

**End Note**

Believe it or not but it actually hurt my heart to write this chapter. I'm still emotionally disraught for making both Fleur and Cedric go through that. But I have a plan now, this is a really important chapter because it's going to set up for the third task and gear up for my ending, which I do believe I am almost decided on. Well, it's been a fun morning but I really need to eat some cereal, to the LIFE! Tune in for the next chapter and **thank you so much for reading this**!


	13. Lost Heart

**Disclaimer: **I won nothing, I mean own!

Love

"There is no remedy for love but to love more."  
_- Thoreau_

**Intro:**

I've finally done it, I've cast aside the book and movie and am narrating Harry potter at my own will. -Evil laugh- My writing has reached the point where I can no longer truthfully follow the book so be prepared for anything! Hah! No, but, I'm still going to follow the book as much as possible. I hope that this chapter is okay, had trouble deciding where I was going to go with it but finally chose a perspective. Enjoy.

**.:Chapter 13:.**

Less than a couple of days had passed since she saw his embrace with Cho and still it had felt like a year. She awoke to the sound of knocking on her door, still wearing the white gown that she had been wearing when she last spoke to Cedric. The date on her calendar had a circle of silver pen market on it. Today was the day when she would face off for something that she lost; only she had no idea what it was that was missing. Surely it wouldn't be Cedric and unless the mermen could steal her entire school than she could not guess as to what they wanted in the first place. Her vexations had faded into solid fears of the murky lake and having to swim in it.

If Cedric wouldn't save her...who would?

Shivering, she stood up off of the bed and got ready for the match. Emerging fully dressed in her champion bathing suit, she covered her figure with a light Beauxbaton's cloak. Madame Maxime smiled at her as she walked out of her room and into the dinning room of the carriage. She didn't have time to think about Cedric and how, despite her cold words, she still loved him. Beauxbaton's was counting on her! She couldn't let her school, her teacher, her little sister down! More than anything she wished to bring the pride to her family of victory, to let little Gabrielle go down as a famous Delacour.

Only, she didn't see her little sister anywhere.

"Madame?" she asked as they walked to the spot of assignment, "Where eez Gabrielle? Does she not feel well?"

"I do not know. Doublezlyeedore left zis note," she handed it to Fleur an anxiously awaited for her student to relay what was written inside of the envelope.

_They have taken Gabrielle Delacour, if you wish for your sister back than meet outside the lake on the morning of the challenge. You will have exactly one hour to save her or all will be lost. _

_Please come prepared and you are reminded that outside help is not allowed._

_-Albus Dumbledore-_

"Zey 'ave 'er!" she cried out loud, flying the note into her headmistress's hands.

Fleur's heart skipped a beat. Little Gabrielle, taken by vicious mermen? She felt her heart sinking deeper and deeper into the pit of sorrow that she had constructed for herself. It should have been Cedric! But...he was a champion and that wouldn't make sense. Fleur felt her face turn pale as the blood ran out of it. Her sister! Her sister was depending on her! She could feel her fingers shaking. Madame Maxine too seemed to be somber about the turn of events. Not so long after she had lost her love, she was to lose her sister as well? Fleur felt as though some great force was trying to break her, to discourage her from entering this contest.

How many times would she regret putting her name in that goblet? Still more to come it seemed.

- - -

"Welcome to the second task. Last night something was stolen from each of our champions. A treasure of sorts. These four treasures, one for each champion, now lie on the bottom of the black lake. In order to win each champion need only find their treasure and return to the surface. Simple enough. Except for this, they will have one hour to do so and one hour only. After that they'll be on their own." The man with the great white beard said.

In a moment too fast Fleur dug inside of her mind for a spell that would allow her to breathe underwater, the bubble head charm? That was a basic spell they were taught on the upper years and, for one like Fleur, it was a very easy one to complete. She could feel her fingers shaking, her body feeling frozen in the grips of the season. Spring was coming soon but today was unusually raw. Fleur found herself chiming out the words that Dumbledore spoke. She turned her eyes to the platform that Cedric Diggory stood on. His eyes caught hers and seemed to hold her gaze there for a second. Something sorrowful was in his expression and it hurt Fleur to continue to look at him.

Hadn't he lied to her after all?

The whistle ruined her concentration and she instantly cast her charm, diving into the cold water. Nothing mattered now except her sister, Gabrielle. If she didn't save her than...Fleur shuddered. The dark depths of the water reached out to her, pouring over her and making her body colder than it had ever been before. The silver bathing suit seemed useless against warding off the cold. Her head was encased in a bubble, unbelievably effective. Fleur pushed Cedric out of her mind and concentrated at the task at hand.

Before her stretched the dark lake, weeds and other such items that would make any girl shiver. Fleur already detested this task but she wouldn't let this slow her down, not at all. Gabrielle needed her, needed her to save her. She swam down deeper into the darkness, hearing the soft lull of the mermen as they enchanted their victims. Thick green weeds covered everywhere around her, making Fleur feel sick. Brushing by her legs like some sort of eel, the seaweed seemed to want to wrap around her body and keep her there. Fleur shivered, thinking that she heard the sound of shrill laughter behind her.

Where were the other champions? Had they already rescued their people and left poor little Gabrielle to fend for herself? Wasn't she afraid of swimming? Fleur bit back tears at the idea of her beloved sister hidden among the weeds of this lake. This tournament was no fool's game and she would have to go along with it to keep everything she loved alive. Bubbles arose behind her and Fleur whirled around. That sound again...the same sound...She looked back to see nothing and shivered, continuing onwards. Just then something grabbed her leg with grimy little claws, tearing at her body and dragging her down.

No, there was more than one, several of the creatures now. They swarmed around her like bees and she struggled against their grips. It was no use, Fleur felt herself sinking father down into the depths and still she held onto her wand. Her mind was spinning, fear overcame her unlike anything but she could still feel the will to save Gabrielle within her. She tamed her fears and focused her energy on one last spell to repel the little creatures that bit at her body, dragging her down. The spell, swirling light, bit through the creatures before her and forced them back only for a moment. Fleur attempted to take this opening but had no such luck.

Her struggling stopped and the energy within her seemed to fade. Fleur's bubble charm faded as well and water came rushing at her, threatening to choke her. They were everywhere...she couldn't feel anything but the cold. Fleur closed her eyes and let herself sink. So this was it? _Gabrielle...I'm sorry I've failed you..._ she though to herself_...Cedric...I still..._Darkness over took her.

_"The Beauxbatons champion Miss Delacour has unfortunately been forced to retire. She will take no further part in this task."_

She heard those words as clear as day and then, without knowing it, she spit up the water that had fallen into her lungs. Fleur gaped over the side of the huge dock, soaking with water and bleeding from several tiny cuts on her arms and legs. Water clung to her figure and made her hair stick to her face in wet strands. Fleur felt the warm heat of a blanket being draped over her as well as reassuring hands from her friends at Beauxbatons for trying to do a good job. She felt the last of the water leave her lungs, leaving her with the feeling that her lungs were on fire. Fleur leaned back and rested against the supporting pillar, closing her eyes for a moment.

It wasn't long before she remembered her sister.

"Gabrielle!" Fleur's eyes snapped open and she stood up.

None of the platform around hers carried any of the champions; she had been the first to wipe out. Worry made her feel sick as she stood back up and gazed at the water. Her heart was still at the bottom of those black depths with her sister and the man who had pretended to love her. Fleur couldn't help but still care for him. But now wasn't the time to think about him, her sister was still down there! Part of her wanted to jump in while the other part of her told her it was a silly idea for she was weak, cut up, and would just have to be rescued again. But the thought of leaving her beloved Gabrielle down there with those...creatures, it was more than she could bear to think about!

Just then, something broke the surface and she found herself staring at the very drenched form of Cedric Diggory helping Cho Chang. A flare of jealousy sparked in her heart but was gone a second after when she thought of her sister. Directly after this emergence was Viktor Krum. Fleur could feel her hands shaking, her eyes wide as she waited in anticipation for her poor sister. How could they do this to her? She watched the champions swim in, eyes catching Cedric's gaze. For a moment he just stared, watching her on the dock gazing back at him with that worried expression. Then his eyes fleeted to Cho and he said something to her. Surprised, she nodded and began to swim for the dock by herself.

Everyone was watching the young Hufflepuff now for he had his wand out and cast a spell, submerging again. Fleur's heart skipped a beat as the administration found themselves in a pickle. What was he doing? Had he saved the wrong captive? No...He knew Cho. Fleur felt her heart racing rapidly. Then why had the fool gone back down? If he disobeyed the rules then he could get disqualified, right? Every one of the Beauxbaton students was watching eagerly for the turn out. The entire stand of the administrative board was going crazy, probably unsure if this was against the rules or not. Fleur gazed over the edge and into the water almost curiously.

It seemed like a year passed as they waited for the remaining two champions to emerge. Finally the surface of the water broke and Cedric emerged, holding Ron Weasley above the water and, much to Fleur's joy, Gabrielle Delacour! Eyes wide, Fleur knelt down towards the edge of the dock that Cedric was now swimming to. He had let go of Ron, who seemed capable of swimming on his own, and was helping her sister. Fleur couldn't stop the smile of relief that spread across her face.

"Ma soeur! Ma soeur aimée!" she cried and stretched her hand outwards.

The small girl grabbed it and Fleur yanked her sister out and crushed her with embrace. Her nightmare was over and her little sister was safe! Fleur didn't let go of the little girl despite her obvious protests at being so publicly humiliated by her older sister's love. Fleur didn't notice but in the distance Cedric smiled at the sight. Finally she let go of her sister and viewed her surroundings, pulse returning to normal. Through the use of magics, Harry Potter had managed to shake the creatures that Fleur had fallen to and had now risen out of the water and on to the dock to be comforted by his friends. Fleur didn't know who to thank for the swift return of her beloved little sister.

Her heart was still racing even though she held her sister within her grips. Had Cedric gone back specifically to save her little sister? She didn't know what to think of this. Was he trying to weave another trap so he could get more information about the third task or did he really want nothing more than to make her happy? Somehow she found herself doubting his good intentions. Looking over, she found that he was chatting with Cho rather in-depth. She seemed to have a serious expression on her face that mirrored his. Where they talking about what he had just done? She didn't know and couldn't find words. One thing was sure in her mind, she had to thank them.

Patting her sister once more, she made her way to the other side of the dock, her bare feet making no sound as she walked. Fleur felt rather silly walking with the blue towel around her in nothing more than her bathing suit but this had to be done now. The joy in her heart at the return of her sister was enough to make her melt. Gabrielle was safe! The poor girl was going to hate having been chosen as bait because Fleur wasn't going to let the little love out of her sight for the next month at the least. She rounded the corner and found herself on the dock facing both Cho and Cedric. Many of the people were nervous about the out come.

"I can't believe you!" Cho was saying until she caught sight of Fleur, "How-" she stopped, "oh I'm sorry."

With that the raven-haired girl moved over to the other side of the dock. Fleur wondered if she had interrupted a quarrel of the lovers. She felt rather silly talking to Cedric again after what she had said to him. It was true though; this competition had made them enemies. Still dripping, she stared at the very clueless, attractive Cedric Diggory with a rather reserved expression. She couldn't let him know how much this meant to her, he would use it as an opportunity.

"Zank you for saving my zister," she said, forcing down a smile.

Cedric seemed surprised that she was even talking to him; he let his surprise turn into a smile. The Beauxbatons champion waited for the tender apology to come out of his mouth, lies all beautiful lies in her eyes. He seemed less pushy than his normal self, very reserved in a sort of chivalrous way. Was he doing that on purpose because she had told him that they were enemies now and she wanted to be left alone? There were so many things that Fleur didn't understand right now...so many.

"I didn't do much. If you want to thank anyone, thank Harry," he paused, "listen . . . Fleur, I know what you think is going on but I can assure you it's not. When I told you that you were the only one I would ever love, I meant it. I know you don't think the same way but I am willing to wait forever for you to understand."

Fleur gazed at him with an empty expression.

"I, I 'ave to go," she turned on heel, heart racing.

Did he really mean what he just said? It sounded so much like the Cedric that she loved that Fleur found herself in a fog. She wrapped the blanket further to her chest as though it could stop her from thinking about him. Her pride would not allow her to talk to him again, she would avoid him, but her heart knew that what he had said was exactly what she wanted to hear. The competition, how she loathed it for doing this to them! Fleur rounded the corner, about to thank Harry Potter when Doubledore's voice rang out on the loud speaker.

"Attention attention! The judges have decided to award Cedric Diggory first place, putting aside matters that will be discussed later. Second place goes to Viktor Krum for his clever use of transfiguration! Annnd...third place would have gone to Harry Potter, however, we have decided to award him second place for outstanding moral fiber and waiting to rescue the other champion's targets! This moves Durmstrang to third place and Beauxbatons following at fourth."

Fourth, but they weren't out for the count. The last task could very well win Beauxbatons first place.

- - -

They were informed that the final task would take place not too long from now. It was to be a huge maze so they should be prepared for anything to happen. Fleur would be sure to study her spells. She needed to get serious, not think about boys, and not think about anything but this challenge, not even about Cedric. It was over and they both knew it...still why did he try to console her so? He had told her that he would wait forever for her to understand; that she was the only one he would ever love...was that just another ploy to win her over?

Fleur couldn't help but think that there was something she was missing

**End Note**

For the longest time I was thinking 'i'll stick to the book and not have Cedric save her or her sister' but then something inside of my brain snapped and I was suddenly rewriting this so that Cedric was a sort of hero, kind of. Like I said before, I am not following the book as tightly as before but I still AM following the book. Does that make any sense or am I rambling? Oh well. Tune in for the next 'issue'.


	14. Just Believe

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but the shoes on my feet...wait...they are my sisters.

Romeo & Juliet_  
__My bounty is as boundless as the sea,  
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,  
The more I have, for both are infinite.  
_-William Shakespeare

**_Intro:_**

The story is drawing to an end. I assume that there will be two more chapters after this one bum ba dum! But hey, i'm the type of person who is just long-winded enough to draw out pivital moments in writing. Haha. Anyways, this chapter was a really strange one to write mainly because they weren't together. More importantly it was really hard to make Cedric a little bit on the emo/sulking side. But I do believe I have done it.

Chapter 14

All around him it seemed that normal life resumed for the students. The buzz about the second task had died down and now the anxieties for the final task were aroused. Only two of the champions found themselves completely absorbed with finding a way to best this maze. The other two found themselves severely distracted. For some reason Cedric took amusement in poking the tip of the quill he was holding into the edge of the hardwood table. The small skritch skritch sound that emitted from his actions seemed to be driving the high pitched noise right through the mind of the girl before him. Long obsidian hair trailed down her shoulders and face as she continued to read the book stretched before her. Jaw clenched with her attention span as far from the book as it possibly could get, Cho Chang finally snapped the cover shut. The force of the snap made some of her hair float in the five-second breeze, making Cedric look up. In his eyes reflected something that much mimicked the expression of a lost puppy.

"You're doing it again Cedric," she growled.

He looked around as though not quite sure what he was doing. Cedric looked down at the study table he was facing. The black surface of the table was marred with several little scratch marks that might suggest a tiny mouse of some sort had been trapped and decided to claw its way out. The Hufflepuff stared a little more, as though caught in a daze. He had been moping again, hadn't stopped all week in fact. No, it had surely been more than a week...or perhaps less. Cedric had lost all hopes of keeping track of the date or the time as it passed him by. Ever since Fleur had broken up with him, he found his heart sunk and his mind vacant.

"Oh...sorry," Cedric flopped back over on the pile of books in front of him.

Cho stared at him with a slightly annoyed expression, which soon faded to an expression of friendly concern. She hadn't known the details of any of it, not wanting to hurt Cedric's feelings by asking what was up with him and Fleur. But Cho knew that something was different about the couple; they didn't even look at one another. It was almost as though because Fleur was gone from his life, Cedric was useless. Seeing such a sight made the Ravenclaw girl very uneasy. Though she had no romantic feelings for Cedric anymore, she still wanted him to be happy. Cho was not the sort of girl who would take joy in seeing the woman who had stole her boyfriend away from her break up with him. Things were tough enough without someone glowering over you to say 'I told you so!'.

Carefully, she leaned forwards so that she was looking into Cedric's eyes.

"Alright buddy, what's up?" she asked.

"Nothing," he sulked.

"That's funny because normally when nothing is wrong with you, you realize right away when you've just dipped the sleeve of your robe in your parchment ink," Cho indicated, seeing the black and yellow robe lined with thick blue ink.

Cedric seemed to have taken a moment to register that. His eyes fled from hers to the ink bottle that he had forgotten to cap a while ago. Feeling much like he had been caught red handed in the middle of a crime; Cedric capped the bottle and made every attempt to stop his sleeve from panting a lovely pattern on his Charms homework (which had been decorated with several box-shaped doodles anyways). He sighed and pulled out his wand, casting a small spell that cleaned the fabrics of his robe out.

"I'm not myself, okay?" he countered.

"I noticed," she pressed.

Silence ensued as Cedric was reluctant to keep information away from Cho. He knew that he shouldn't have been even hanging around her due to Fleur's suspicions but it seemed too mean a thing to ostracize her because of a mistake on his part. Cedric just couldn't bring himself to spill all his problems on the dark-eyed girl before him. Cho wouldn't be happy to know that she was the source of his unhappiness...though unintentionally so. Someone walked by behind them but his attentions never left the scribbles on the desk top.

"It's Fleur."

Somehow Cedric assumed that Cho already knew that much. Would she hate Fleur if he told her the whole story? Maybe she would just hit him on the head and tell him he was an idiot. Was he really wrong for having hugged her? Surely not. But he still loved Fleur, even if she didn't trust him or even look at him. Saving her little sister had made that so very clear to him. He hadn't done much but the administrative board had cracked down hard on him. Receiving no point reductions, he was warned by Dumbledore that another disobedience of the rules of the tournament would get him thrown out of it. Strangely enough, he really wouldn't mind if that happened. Shame meant nothing to him at this point, so long as he could get back Fleur.

"What about her?" he had known that was coming.

"She," he begin but had to take a deep breath before finding the right phrasing, "listen, Fleur saw me hug you after you told me that you weren't in love with me anymore and now she just thinks I was trying to get close to her to get extra information about the tournament. Haven't you seen the way she ignores me? I tried apologizing but I can't even get close to her without the Beauxbaton girls hammering me with dirty looks and insults!"

Cedric stopped on that last note, watching the emotions displayed across Cho's face. Curiosity. Shock. Anger. He didn't like the reactions that he saw in her face. But soon the anger faded to a slight smile. For a moment there he thought that Cho was happy he had been dumped by Fleur but then she spoke and the world came back into place...well as much 'in place' as it could be without Fleur besides him smiling.

"That's it?" she raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah," he waited for her joy at his failed relationship.

"Why don't you write her a letter?" Cho suggested.

"I don't want to bug her. I've told her I'm sorry and that's all that I'm going to say," he responded sullenly.

"Did you tell her exactly what happened?" she raised her eyebrow once more.

"Not exactly..." Cedric's eyes shifted downwards. Cho rolled her eyes.

"Then that's your problem. She probably still thinks you are just playing her for information and we both know that if that were the case we wouldn't be having this conversation. Now...are you going to write a letter to her or not? I can get it to her." Cho pushed.

For a second he seriously considered her idea. But...a letter? That seemed too impersonal. He wanted to tell Fleur to her face but that would never work out at the rate things were going. The scratches on the table seemed very interesting to the heart-broken man right now. From where he sat he could hear Cho's annoyance with his reluctance to bother Fleur. If she didn't love him anymore than that was that, he had told her that he would wait and he certainly didn't want her to think that he was stalking her. If Fleur still loved him...wouldn't she come back?

"No thanks. Hey I got to go, herbology is next and I don't want to be late," He grabbed the strap of his bag, standing up and slinging it over his shoulder.

"Cedric!" Cho said, frowning. Cedric paused and stared back at her.

"Thanks for the help though Cho, I appreciate it."

There was no use in trying to tell Fleur what happened, to make excuses for something that he had never committed. Cedric was sure that he would wait forever for the beautiful half-veela. Even if she never understood how much he loved her, Cedric would wait. Sending her a letter with petty excuses seemed so impersonal, so against what he had said that Cedric didn't even want to think about it. Cho was trying to help but the only help that he could receive would be help from his beloved; Fleur.

- - -

It didn't take long for him to get the to greenhouse, in fact it was a very quick amount of time. Cedric paused, his hand over the door knob of the great structure. He had herbology with Fleur...did he really want to cause her all the trouble of him being there? Cedric remembered the last class with a broken heart. Fleur had done everything possible to avoid him, including sitting on the edge of her chair, avoiding eye contact, doing everything herself so as not to have to ask him. He was finding it more and more painful to even enter the greenhouse.

With a heavy heart he shook his head and turned around, beginning to walk in the opposite direction; Fleur didn't need that stress right before the third task and neither did he. Cedric knew that he should be studying up, hitting the books like the other three champions, but he couldn't seem to concentrate. All around him he had people cheering for him, telling him that he was a winner, they were routing for him. But all he could think about was Fleur. Cedric felt like he was turning his back on his school just by loving her. Though one thing was sure in his mind; he'd turn his back on the whole world just to love Fleur Delacour.

Cedric had been walking so long that he didn't even realize he was trotting down the halls of Hogwarts until he nearly side swiped a kid with the large bag he carried. Feeling sheepish, he apologized to the first year who squeaked by with a fearful expression as though Cedric were some sort of god not to be touched. For some reason the very idea brought him to laugh lightly. The sound of footsteps behind him sounded and someone called out his name. He let his eyes fall back and, for a second, saw a flash of blue. Expression lit, he whirled around and found himself disappointedly looking at Roger Davies.

"Cedric! What are you deaf man?" he asked, panting slightly.

"Sorry," Cedric sighed, "what's up?"

Roger Davies. As in Roger Davies, key seeker for the Ravenclaw team. Roger Davies, the guy who had loved Fleur and lost her to yours truly. Perhaps the longest Quidditch rival that Cedric found himself competing with; the beau of ravenclaw. There was only one reason that either of them ever talked; competitive chatting. However Quidditch had been resigned this year due to the tournament so then why was Davies bothering to even chat with the Hufflepuff? Cedric couldn't seem to grip an explanation with his mind as he stared at the Quidditch seeker.

"A word," Davies looked at the bustling halls around them, "privately please."

For a moment Cedric was wondering if Davies had hatched some half-brain scheme regarding a competition...or maybe he just wanted to toss Cedric's heart around because of the Fleur incident. It was much like Davies to be overly protective of the girl who had once stole his heart (and probably still had it). Roger would surely jump at a chance to expose Cedric for someone he really wasn't. Cedric, at this point, couldn't bring himself to care about his own image.

"Sure," he replied.

In silence they walked towards the outside, sat down on a picnic table that nobody had used for years it seemed (mainly because the table had been hidden behind some sort of strange tree and faced the lake). With a clash, Cedric's back flopped down on the table as though it were a representation of his very beaten soul. Davies sat down before him, strangely the entirety of his school stuff consisted of a few books and a much scratched up quill. Cedric wondered if the thing would poof to dust if he touched it. Better not chance upsetting Davies anymore...he snickered mentally.

"The final task is tomorrow," Davies started and paused as though to make sure Cedric were listening.

Cedric, though tempted to talk back rather rudely to Davies, kept his mouth plastered shut and his ears open to the words that were spoken before him. He hoped that Davies had a point to make and that he made it fast...thought his last class for today had been herbology and well...he had skipped that one unfortunately. If only his old man heard of that...His thoughts were interrupted by Davies starting up again.

"It would be, I mean you," Davies struggled to find words and then sighed before starting up again, "Listen. Cedric. I don't really like you because of the whole competition thing, but you are still one of my friends and so is Fleur. I know you don't think that she has any feelings for you left but I can assure you that she still loves you. I wanted to date her myself, and if I were a sleaze I'd take advantage of this opening you've left, but I'm not and I truly just want to see her happy so..."

Cedric blinked a couple of times, not believing what he was hearing. Was Davies serious? Davies...an intelligent thought? More importantly, he was talking about Cedric and Fleur getting back together again. So then...did that mean that Fleur loved him still? His heart seemed to flutter with these words. She still loved him? How could Davies be sure? Cedric felt the clock work of his mind spinning round and round.

"Just tell her you messed up and make up already," Davies finished, as though just ending a very complicated math problem.

For a moment, Cedric just stared. The he spoke.

"You serious?" his eyebrow was poised quizzically.

"Of course I am! She talks about you constantly, though she pretends to make it insults I can tell that she's really thinking about you. I may be a dense guy but when it comes to Fleur Delacour I'm pretty much an expert. I don't know what you did to her but make it better, if only for her sake. I know that you aren't the type of guy who would do anything to intentionally hurt her," Davies's face was serious, for once.

"You think she'll listen to me?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't she? I've never heard her talk so much about one guy in my entire life," Davies grinned and moved to stand up, gathering his stuff, "well I got to get going, I've got another class unfortunately and I can't skip classes because I'm not a Triwizard champion," Davies scowled and began to walk off.

Before he was almost gone, he paused and turned around to face Cedric.

"Oh, and, Cedric! If she gets hurt out there...I'm going to have to kill you!" Davies yelled across the lawn.

"I won't let her!" Cedric yelled after him, grinning.

With one last grin and a thumbs up, Roger Davies disappeared behind the pillar and back into Hogwarts. Cedric found his heart racing; his thoughts were all over what Roger Davies had told him. She talked about him. A lot. She still loved him. Fleur Delacour still loved him. Cedric Diggory. He still had a chance to make things right after he had really screwed them up. One chance. Cedric seriously found himself contemplating going to the greenhouse and apologizing right now. Only the time told him that by the time he got there the class would already have left on their excursion to plant trees on the edge of the forest and he would be the only one in the greenhouse.

So then it was decided. He would tell Fleur in person tomorrow. No matter what. He would make her understand. Tell her that he loved her more than anything, more so than he had told her before. The Hogwarts champion would not give up on her as he had planned to do. No matter how long it took. No matter how much she pretended to hate him. Not matter if the world wanted to stop him.

Nothing mattered to him except Fleur Delacour.

**End Note:**

Alright so the next chapter is going to have a bit of a gap I think, i'm going to start it off right at the maze, no interlude in between. When you really think about it that's what they did with the movie. For the life of me I couldnt' remember any event inbetween the 2nd and third task other than the death of Barty Crouch (wouldn't they keep that underwraps and away from the champions anyways?). But, for interest purposes i'm going straight into the final stretch. Be prepaired for angst! Bwahaha.


	15. The Truth

**Disclaimer: **The story/characters/content doesn't belong to me, I only own the words that I write.

I love you

_we meet at the lights  
I stare for a while  
the world around disappears  
just you and me  
on this island of hope  
a breath between us could be miles_

-Sara McLaughlin

**Intro:**

I'm almost finished, the ending is very near. I assume one more chapter after this one. I hope you don't mind the changes I made- there is no way that I can keep this story the way that the book made it because that would be a very misreable love tale, ne? Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and PLEASE comment so I know if anyone at all is still reading this. If not i'll finish it anyways, Mwahahaa.

Chapter 15 

Only one thing was on her mind as she ran, sucking in air around her to keep going. Cedric. Find Cedric. Large walls the height of a house stretched out before her, enclosing her in. Fleur bit back her panic as she ran through the structure. How could she have been so blind as to believe such a delusion? Why would Cedric have loved anyone other than her? She was such an idiot for thinking that! Fleur closed her eyes and felt her lungs burn as she ran, her energy draining but her ambition still holding tight to her body.

_"Fleur do you have a minute?" the ravenclaw student asked, her black hair framing those dark eyes._

_Fleur wondered what such a woman would be doing here and, more importantly, how she could dare show her face to Fleur after what she had done. Heat rose to her face but Fleur did not let her arrogance and pride control her for once. She would hear Cho out, if only because the girl was her friend and she wanted to keep relations between them untainted by men (as Cho had agreed to before when Fleur 'stole' Cedric from her)._

_"What eez eet?" Fleur asked._

_"It's about Cedric."_

There was nothing to do but continue running. Branches lashed out at her body, tearing her sweatpants and matching Beauxbatons jacket. Fleur didn't care that her beloved clothing was being ripped. She could hear scurrying from the bushes as though they were alive. The Beauxbatons student pushed herself forwards, a root catching her foot and sending her face first into the ground. It didn't take her long to regain her footing and brush back the bushes that tried to grab her. Fleur, panting heavily, continued to run as though she had never taken the fall.

She had to find Cedric.

_"He was only hugging me because I told him I was over him, Cedric's funny that way," Cho smiled._

_Fleur's face remained blank, the cheers of the crowd as they stood there. _

_"Quoi?" Fleur asked again, unsure what she had just heard._

_Cho, sensing that time was short, began to confine her words into one swift sentence. Madame Maxime's hand was on Fleur's shoulder and she gazed down into her prized student's eyes as though to tell her that it was almost time to be led out into the arena. Fleur nodded and began to walk away. Only Cho's voice cut strongly through her mind._

_"Fleur, Cedric doesn't love me, he never has, he loves you and he always will!" _

_The shot was fired and the tournament had started._

Fatigue tugged at her arms and legs, making her feel as though someone were holding her body back...or trying to anyways. Her fingers brushed the branches of nearby bushes but Fleur didn't feel the pain. She took a right, hoping that this would be the right path to lead her back to Cedric. So many thoughts raced through her mind. Cedric really loved her. Loved her for her and not because she was another means for tournament information. This information fueled her tired body, kept her running until she couldn't run anymore...and still she pressed on.

_All around her the sounds of cheers arose from the crowds as Cedric and Harry were allowed to enter. Fleur felt her heart sink. This was not good at all. Impatiently she waited for her turn to enter the maze. Another five minutes passed and Fleur felt her heart beating against her chest like a caged animal trying to escape. Krum entered. Cerulean eyes gazed out at the structure before her. Cedric? What had she done?_

_Another five minutes passed and it was signaled to be her turn. _

_Fleur didn't waste any time, she pushed off from the ground in a sprint and entered the maze, wand at the ready._

Lungs about to collapse, Fleur fell to her knees for a second and caught her breath, remaining steady underneath the silence of the maze. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. Soon her pants died down to little more than a wisp of air each time she breathed. All around her echoed strange sounds. Fleur, calmed now, stood up and tried to listen for something that might lead her in the correct direction. A shiver ran up her spine. The sound of slow footsteps caught her ears.

Footsteps? Who did they belong to?

Fleur found herself creeping quietly to the edge of the pathway she was in. Something about those footsteps told her that it just might not be a person. Fear gripped the edges of the blonde's heart but she did not once falter. She would find Cedric, right now, and apologize. Anything could happen inside this maze and she wouldn't be able to find the will to live if anything happened to Cedric. Fleur found that her grip was tighter on the wand that she possessed.

Taking in a deep breath, she turned the corner. Only there wasn't anybody there where footsteps had been mere moments ago. Fleur felt a shiver run up her spine at the very idea. Dangerous wasn't it? She closed her eyes, feeling the press of tears. In her mind all she could think about was Cedric and how much she hurt him with her stupid words. He had never stopped loving her, not ever. Small droplets of water formed at the corner of her eyes, leaving trails of hot liquid running down her face. Fleur took a shuddered breath and began to run again.

Only the footsteps that she had heard prevented her from calling out his name, from yelling it as loud as she could. Surely he would come if he heard her voice? But she didn't want to be the reason he lost the tournament. Fleur didn't know if winning it meant anything to the Hufflepuff but she didn't want to drag him down, not now, not ever. The very seem root it seemed, slipped into her path and sent her flying head first. This time she tumbled, arm scraping the ground on a sharp rock. Red instantly appeared as Fleur sat up. There was a nasty gash on her leg but Fleur didn't even care. She found herself sitting up slowly.

With great effort, she managed to sit back up, clutching her arm to her. It hurt but not as much as her heart was burning. Fleur gathered the strength to stand up, feeling her heart racing and her tear-stained cheeks flushed with heat. Not once did she give up on finding Cedric. Fleur brushed herself off and turned her eyes in front of her. Foot steps sounded, only they were behind her now. Fleur whipped around and screamed.

Standing not more than a foot away from her was Krum with his wand poised dangerously in her direction. His eyes had lost their black-ringed appearance so that only white showed. It was very obvious to Fleur that this was not the true Victor Krum's will. She stupidly went to grab her wand but didn't catch herself in time as Krum cast a spell at her, sending her flying backwards into the ground, stunned. Her limbs had been bound, Fleurs eyes remained opened but she couldn't move her body. Such was the state she was in.

Instantly, like a million little spiders, the undergrowth began to swallow her up. Fleur wanted to scream but nothing came from her lungs. It was as though she were trapped in her own body. She wondered which curse this was as the branches dragged her further in. So this was it then, huh? Fleur wished she could close her eyes. She watched helplessly as Krum moved by her body.

"Get down!" a voice shouted.

The sound of someone hitting the earth behind her echoed through her ears. Footsteps. More footsteps. Fleur felt a lone teardrop fall out of the corner of her eye as she was swallowed whole. Fear clutched her heart as the branches began to work their evils. Suddenly she could move again, someone had cast the counter curse. In vain, Fleur struggled to free her body from the clutching vines. But this was no good for she had already been sucked in. Fleur closed her eyes and waited for the darkness to come. Only it never did.

Strong hands pulled her out of the brush, rested underneath her legs and her neck so as to hold her up. Fleur opened her eyes again to see Cedric. The vines had begun to spread over him too, trapping him there. Fleur gasped and tried to struggle against the vines. She could feel her heart skipping beats as she gazed at the blond-haired boy before her. Cedric, the man she loved more than anyone else. With one final snap, Cedric freed both of them from the vines and was sent flying, back into the other wall.

Eyes shut tight, it took Fleur a moment to regain herself and finally she opened her eyes.

"You saved me! Cedric!" she cried and flung her hands around his neck, burying her head in his chest.

Strong arms closed around her small frame, holding her close to him. Fleur felt tears graze her cheeks, leaving hot trails of water. For a moment she couldn't find the words to speak as she clung tightly to her love. This was what she had missed all along, just being with Cedric. For a moment Fleur forgot that she was a Triwizard champion competing for the honor of her school. Cedric was here and everything would be alright now. His voice broke her thoughts.

"Fleur, are you alright? You're bleeding..." he spoke and she could tell he was gazing down at her.

Fleur let go of his neck, finding herself sitting in his lap in a heap on the ground. She felt her cheeks flush slightly and then realized why she had been so eager to find Cedric in the first place. Her heart was racing, as though it would run away if she didn't cling tight to it. So much had gone wrong, but now that Cedric was here...the blond-haired girl felt the frown spread across her face. Would Cedric have her back? He inspected her arm with a grim expression and, without thinking, tore the sleeve of his shirt and wrapped it around her fragile arm. Fleur could only stare at him as he did so, in awe at how good he treated her.

"Cedric! I am so sorry! I deedint know zat Cho was only your friend! I am such a fool! I 'ave missed you so much!" she felt the tear drops fall down her cheeks, her eyes filling with water as she continued to relay excuses to the man she loved, "I love you Cedric! More zan anyone! I always will and I understand if you do not want me back now-" she began.

The half veela didn't get a chance to finish her sentence because Cedric was staring at her, as though he wished to speak.

Cedric paused, his eyes holding her cerulean gaze.

The Hufflepuff leaned closer to her, his hand brushing the tears from her cheeks as she stared at him. Cedric's hand cupped her chin and pulled her close. Soft lips pressed against her own in a deep kiss. It was Fleur who pulled away first, lips parted as she gazed into his eyes. She placed her hand on his, running her thumb over the soft skin of his hand. This was what she had wanted all along; just to be with Cedric.

"I wasn't lying when I told you that you were the only one that I would ever love."

**End Note**

No that isn't the ending of the story, though its VERY close. I've got one more chapter- finishing up the tournament and delivering the final verdict upon whether i'm keeping Cedric alive or letting him have it. Bum ba bum. I'm so cruel at times, haha. No, but please read the last chapter, i'll be handing out cookies!


	16. Something to Cherish

**Disclaimer:** Any content pertaining to Harry potter is copywrite to Jk Rowling, I do not own it..

There For You

_I wanna be there for you  
Someone you can come to  
Runs deeper than my bones  
I wanna be there for you  
I wanna be there for you_

_'Cause I hear the whispered words  
In your masterpiece beautiful  
You speak the unspeakable through  
I love you too_

-Fly Leaf

**Intro:**

This is it. The last. I want to thank you guys so much for reading up this far, I really apreciated your comments and support! This has been a beautiful experience, sharing my story and words with you, and I just hope that it has been fun for you guys as well. Enjoy the last chapter of my sappy romance Fic, hopefully with a smile. Lastly, a note, the last part of the fiction is neither in Cedric's nor Fleur's point of view.

Chapter 16 

She smiled and his whole world shifted from black and white to color. He felt alive again; unable to be beaten so long as she was with him. The linger of the kiss remained on his lips as he gazed at her figure, that of beauty. A sound to the right broke his reverie. Something was coming around the corner. Cedric stood up almost instantly, wand poised at the shadow of a figure. A ways away from the couple lay the unconscious Krum. The shadow around the corner silently stalked around the other end and was gone. Cedric turned to Fleur, holding his hand out.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Fleur nodded and grabbed his hand.

Making sure that she had regained her footings, Cedric eyed the maze around them and then turned to Fleur. He was unsure of how to do this. The huffle puff student hadn't thought when he heard Fleur's scream, he had only reacted as instinct told him; Fleur had been in trouble and he had to save her. Now he began to wonder if it was legal for them to help one another in the tournament. But it didn't matter to him; Cedric would not let Fleur out of his sights after seeing how someone had been manipulating Krum. His hand closed tight around Fleurs as he gazed at her.

"We will go togezer?" she asked.

"I'm not letting you out of my sites," he paused, "I want to do this together, I don't care about winning."

A smile graced the angel's face. Cedric let go of Fleur's hand, figuring that she would need to use it if they encountered something. It was hard to decide if he wanted her to go first or for him to go first, either way was just as dangerous. Cedric settled for the front, in case there was a trap before him. Face a mask of seriousness; he held his wand at the ready as he advanced. Fleur's voice behind him kept him calm, unfearful of what would come.

"Why did you rescue moi?" Fleur asked, watching behind them out of the corner of her eyes.

"I don't know. I didn't even think about it, I just heard you scream and ran thinking that if anything ever happened to you I couldn't live," Cedric spoke, though his eyes did not once leave the area in front of them. His walk was more like a crouch, as though he was unsure of the very ground he stepped on. He had good reason to be.

"Cho told me." She smiled.

"What?" Cedric didn't seem to be on the same page.

"She told me what really happened," Fleur gazed up at the sky for a second, "why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to think I was lying, would you really have believed me?" Cedric questioned.

"Eet is...probably not," She felt guilty for a moment.

"Doesn't matter, that's in the past now."

His foot stepped forwards; the maze seemed to shake as though someone where shaking the earth...or the shrubbery was rearranging itself. Cedric found himself pondering this as the two stood there until Fleur's voice cut through his concentration. She backed up into him accidentally causing him to turn around with her words.

"Cedric look!" she said, a hint of fear in her voice.

Behind them the maze seemed to be closing in, forming a new path by squishing the path that they were on. It wasn't as though it were slowly doing this either; the entire column was racing behind them. Cedric found his footing quickly, clutching Fleur's hand and bolting forwards. She gasped but understood the intent he had, continuing to run after him. Cedric didn't know which way to go, he turned left in hopes that the maze would stop closing around them but it was no good. Left, right, straight. It all seemed to lead around in the same sort of circle. Then he saw it, shining in its brilliance among the clearing; the Triwizard cup. Cedric couldn't believe his eyes, they had made it! At the edge of the long tunnel of maze rested the clearing containing the end to this drawn-out labyrinth. Still running, he directed Fleur's attention to the prize.

"It's just over there!" he yelled over the sound of the maze.

His legs were burning with the effort to run but Cedric couldn't feel more alive. Behind him Fleur smiled, wisps of blond hair clinging to the side of her perfect face. Cerulean eyes seemed to sparkle with a certain sort of energy. Afraid of her falling behind, Cedric pulled Fleur to run in front of him. She seemed startled by his resolution but understood where he was getting with it. The two continued to run. Suddenly a root shot out in front of Cedric and the young man let go of Fleur's hand as he fell onto the dirt. Fleur was flung forwards slightly but regained her footing; she stopped dead and turned to gaze at Cedric, less than a few feet away from him.

"Get the cup!" Cedric yelled, no longer caring about himself as he stood up.

The hedges were closing in and Cedric was sure that there was no way he would clear the pathway and reach Fleur before they swallowed him. He watched Fleur as he stood up. She stared at him with her cerulean eyes and then gazed at the glimmering cup. In a moment far too fast for him, she began to sprint towards him. Cedric felt his mind running circles. What was she doing? Getting the cup would ensure Beauxbaton's victory. Instead she was running for him. Fleur flung herself into his arms, standing with her eyes glistening towards his.

"I won't leave you." She smiled.

And then the darkness swallowed them...

- - -

Summer's velvet touch glided over Hogwarts, bringing the rosy color to the flowers and trees surrounding the great building. Rays of delicate sunlight stretched across the structure to offer their warmth and love. Basked in such delicate sunlight stood a beautiful woman with eyes as bright as the blue sea and hair that shone as though it were made of gold. Metallic blue fabrics touched her cream-colored skin, making her look like a vision from a dream as she stood there smiling. Her smile, it was something that could move the very world. Around her were many other students but only she caught the eyes of a particular brunette. He approached her with a grin, stretching his arms out and drawing her into a tight hug. The girl laughed and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm going to miss you," she spoke to him.

"Not as much as I'll miss you," the man answered, "I'll write to you, every day!"

"Zan I will 'ave to write back every day," she smiled and drew out of the hug so she could look at him.

All around them the Beauxbatons students were entering the horse-drawn carriage, the blue and red that had once dotted the Hogwarts crowd was now slightly less so than before until only they remained. The touch of dawn had brought color to her face as well, making her appear as angelic as he saw her. For a moment they grew lost in one another's eyes, as lovers tend to do, and then the sound of the carriage bells brought her back to reality.

"I 'ave to go," she said sullenly.

He understood and pulled out a small bag, a blue tag hung from the end with the name Fleur Delacour written on it. A letter poked out from the edge, the parchment thick with age but the words written on them were new. The brunette pressed this gift into his lover's hands, holding them once more with his own before speaking to her in the same loving tone he always did.

"Open this later, it's a gift for you, good bye," he smiled and kissed her on the lips lightly.

"Au Revoir."

She smiled, brushing aside a tear as she took one last look at him. A breeze blew across the courtyard and Fleur turned on heel, holding the last image of her love within her mind forever. The man watched her as she strode over to the blue carriage. With each step she took, each click of her heel, he felt the world around him grow less bright. But inside his heart he knew that he would see her again. He loved her too much to let her go. Not shortly after she was gone behind the heavy door of the carriage. He watched intently as the wheels began to turn and the horses' wings flapped.

Soon the carriage was nothing more than a dot on the horizon, gone.

Inside the carriage sat the girl, her fingers fiddled with the knot that held the little bag shut. Her fingers enclosed the letter, pulling it out. Delicately she unfolded this letter and began to let her eyes read its contents. The bag sat on her lap, as though balanced by another weight but Fleur did not notice, she only gazed at the words in the letter written before her. Golden hair rested by the sides of her face, a few strands that had escaped the watchful eye of her hair elastic.

_Fleur,  
I don't know where to start. You are amazing. I don't think that I could find a girl as good as you anywhere else in the world. That day when I saw you give up your chance at fame, at winning, just to be with me, something inside of me changed. It was as though someone had flicked on a switch and shown me a whole side of life that I have never witnessed before.  
I plan on getting a job in the ministry as an auora in hopes that we can somehow end up working together- I know you had the same plan, right? No matter what goes on in the world, I still love you, I always will. You are my shining star, my sunshine, all of that romantic jazz.  
I never want to let you go...and so I want you to open the gift._

She paused, her fingers still holding the edges of the note. Placing that down, the girl fished through the bag and, with a surprised expression, pulled out a small square box. Her heart skipped a beat. Slender fingers flipped open the top of the box to expose its contents and she couldn't stop herself from gasping out loud at what she saw. Sitting inside of the box was a small silver ring with a cerulean sapphire sitting in the middle. Her eyes flipped down to the paper.

_I really wanted to do this in person but...this is okay too, right? I hope so...  
I guess what I'm trying to say is, well, Fleur, will you marry me?_

_Yours to love forever,_

_Cedric Diggory_

"Yes."


End file.
